Glass 1 J p C Co 
Book .. 

SMITHSONIAN DEPOSIT. 



15 



A pictorial representation of the angelic orders, according to the views of the 
Rabbins and Fathers, the ancient Sophists and Magi. The name of the 
Angel-Prince, and that of his subordinate, being placed over the sign of the 
Zodiac, which, astrologieally. they govern, in conjunction with an hiero- 
glyphic of the Trinity, encircled by the celestial hierarchy of the Scriptures. 



ANGELOL OGY. 
REMARKS AND REFLECTIONS 

TOUCHING THE 

AGENCY AND MINISTRATION 

OF 

HOLY ANGELS; 

WITH REFERENCE TO THEIR 

History. Rank, Titles, Attributes, Characteristics, Resident 
Society, Employments and Pursuits; 

INTERSPERSED WITH 



TRADITIONAL PARTICULARS RESPECTING THEM 
BY GEORGE CLAYTON, Jr. 




Luke, xxii, 43. 



" Are they not all ministering spirits."— Paul. 

;i To thee all angels cry aloud— Cherubim and Seraphim." — Com. Pray i 
11 Magna opera Domini, exquisita in omnes voluntatesejus."— The V\ it 

Embellished loith original Illustrations. 



PUBLISHED FOR THE AUTHOR 

BY HENRY KERNOT, 633 BROADWAY, N. Y, 
1851. 

■ b A 



Entered, according to an Act of Congress, in the year 1S51, 
BY GEORGE CLAYTON, Jr. 
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New-York. 



The Library 
of Congress 

washington 



TO 

MY ESTEEMED FRIEND, 

MR. GEORGE C. MORGAN; 

The following pages are respectfully inscribed,— the ennobling subject which they 
embrace, having been considered at his request; 

ACCOMPANIED WITH THE 

CHRISTIAN HOPE, 

OF GREETING HIM AMIDST 

'•THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE JUST; 

AND THE 

INNUMERABLE COMPANY OF 

ANGELS," 

IN THE BEATIFIC VISION " OF THE CITY 
OP THE 

LIVING GOD;" 

GLORIFIED IN THE RESPLENDENT RADIATIONS 
OF THE 

HOLY SHEKINAH 

OF A 

gUUstxal Immortality 



PREFACE, 




tf'iS'iS, s\tfig, ayarfri ra rgia tuSjto: 

fASjfwv Ss tovtwv Yj ayowr"?]. — 1 Cor. xiii. 13, 

The transcendent dignity and overwhelming grandeur of the 
sublime and glorious subject of investigating the nature and attri- 
butes, the characteristics and ministrations of Holy Angels, — encom- 
passed by the admonitory and awful silence of the Scriptures, — evi- 
dently appear to have deterred even writers of philosophic research 
and lofty intellectual endowments, from imparting that plenitude of 
devotional consideration, to which, so attractive and cardinal a doc- 
trine of divine revelation is, assuredly, entitled ; to wit, — the special 
ministry and appointed agency of Angelic Intelligences, in reference 
to the wondrous economy of Redemption, and the mighty achieve- 
ments of Omnipotent purpose, in executing the moral government 
of the universe. 



6 



A prefatory and deferential apology seems, therefore, requisite 
to atone for the apparently presumptuous temerity of the present 
production, unless justified or softened by the circumstances of its 
origination, — the appropriateness or fulfilment of its design. 

Having prefixed, at the desire of a friend, a few remarks to the 
" Narrative of a Summer's Excursion, amidst the romantic and pic- 
turesque scenery of Nature," containing an allusion to a discourse 
touching the " Ministry of Angels," he was further requested, to 
contribute some observations on that inviting and majestic theme. 

Conscious of disqualification and the absence of all suitable and 
sufficient preparation for the specific consideration of so delightful 
and elevating a topic, the request was declined, — but, subsequent 
meditation led to a train of contemplation which heightened in 
interest and enjoyment as he pondered upon the doctrine, in the 
magnitude of its importance, as bearing upon the selected instrumen- 
tality and chosen medium of the condescension of Jehovah in his 
terrestrial intercourse and transactions with lapsed and sinful human- 
ity, in connection with the urgent beatitude of angelic association 
and pursuits, — as his reflections starting from the celebration, accord- 
ing to the Mosaic narrative, of the Creation, proceeded, in biblical 
vision, along the illumed and extended vista of prophecy, the mys- 
terious and radiant avenue of redeeming Mercy, to the apocalyptic 
revelations of the millennial reign and foredoomed overthrow of " the 
prince of the power of the air and all spiritual wickednesses," towards 
the final consummation of all things, at the arrival of the bright 



7 



morning of the resurrection and the solemn assize of the judgment 
day, upon the august descent and re-appearance of " the righteous 
judge of the quick and the dead," attended by the resplendent reti- 
nue of heaven, to conduct the predestinated ascension of the best to 
the eternal mansion of celestial glory ! 

As regards the annexed co?npe?id, it is alike the dictate of prudence 
and propriety to state, — that it does not arrogate originality of ideas 
or extent of research ; that it has been chiefly prepared, during the 
past few months, in those interstices of thought which have accrued in 
the brief intervals of a secular vocation which did not admit of a con- 
tinuous or comprehensive reading, the advantageous retirement of the 
study, or the auxiliary exercises of the secret closet of meditation ; nev- 
ertheless, in all frankness, he considers it his duty to declare, — in the 
hope that others may derive a similar benefit — that the mental process 
which it has required, together with the agreeable and instructive fel- 
lowship of the religious sentiments of the practical piety of various 
authors, has proved — in his own experience — peculiarly profitable, — 
driving away those Promethean vultures of distrust and despond- 
ency which constantly hover around the mind, whilst environed by 
an accumulation of uncontrollable evils, — the tormenting oppres- 
sion of physical melancholy, aggravated by the cureless corrosion of 
internal grief, the perturbing vexations of social injustice, the inflicted 
wrongs of administrative turpitude and judicial malversation, the 
unprovoked injuries of clerical detraction and dishonor, and the mis- 
chievous devices of a Janus-faced and heartless hypocrisy. 



Mr. S. T. Coleridge, with his characteristic intuition, has observed, 
^ That the communicativeness of our nature leads us ta describe our 
own sorrows" — an aegis which, if it do not protect the writer from the 
allegation of having trespassed beyond the boundary of a becoming de- 
corum, in his figurative representation of The Escort of Angels, (inclu- 
ding other emblematical designs,) he confidently turns for shelter, 
(regardless of the barbed missiles of a flippant censure or witless de- 
rision to which it may expose him,) to the remembered fidelity of the 
conjugal attachment of an expectant, though a disembodied affection * 
as well as the sympathetic sensibility of a Christian candor — havings 
had to traverse, unattended by earthly alleviations, amidst sickness 
and seclusion, desertion and dejection, darkened by the tenebrious as- 
saults of Satanic suggestions,! the via dolorosa of domestic and fra- 
ternal bereavement, as, in quick succession, from the relentless aim 
of the " insatiable archer,"" 

" Thrice the arrow flew, 
And thrice his peace was slain" — 

he would still fain cherish — and devoutly recommend to others, by 



* The pain of nry corporeal sufferings is greatly relieved, by the com- 
forting hope of an anticipated re-union or recognition in the blessedness of 
heaven ; and by divine aid. endeavor so to bring up in the nurture and admo- 
nition of the Lord, my left dear little ones, that in God's time, they may 
follow after me, 

One of her last death-bed sayings. 

f The devil ever consorts with our solitude, and is that unruly rebel 
that musters up those disordered motions which accompany our sequestered 
imaginations. 

Sir Thos. Browne — Religio-Medki, 



9 



virtue of its soothing and edifying tendency, under the pressure of 
similar afflictive dispensations,* — the salutary and animating belief, 
that he was sustained — during the probationary discipline of provi- 
dential appointment, — by the gentle and sympathetic! whispers of 
angel voices as they vibrated on the silver chords of the golden harp 
of the gospel, in unison with the melodious and enrapturing tones 
of divine promises and scriptural consolation. 

As behooveth him, — with reverential humility, he commends this 
imperfect tribute of adoring gratitude to the gracious benediction of 
the Great Angel of the everlasting covenant, who, whilst He taber- 
nacled " in the flesh for us men and our salvation," singled out, from 
amidst the thronging multitude, by the divinity of His omniscience, 
the remaining mites of the widow's penury ; recording on the page 
of inspiration, that as the offering of her repentant faith and " love 



* They teach the soul by woe subdued, 
That sweetest flowers do lie 
Hid in the green, thick, tangled wood, 
Of dark Adversity. 

Caroline May — Proem to Treasured Thoughts. 

— Being an admirable and a choice selection of striking and sterling, ele- 
gant and edifying extracts, — pithy, practical, and pious observations gleaned 
from the writings of eminent authors, in the diversified departments of the- 
ology, philosophy, and general literature. 

f I do think that many mysteries ascribed to our own inventions have 
been the courteous revelations of spirits, or the charitable premonitions of 
good angels, which forerun our calamities ; for those noble essences in hea- 
ven have a friendly regard unto their fellow-nature on earth. 

Sir Thos. Browne — Religio- Medici, 



10 

unfeigned," they were a larger donative, than the munificent and 
united gifts of those, who, from the vain promptings of an ostenta- 
tious superfluity, cast in out of their abundance into the treasury of 
the temple of the Jewish synagogue. 
To Him — the Lord of Angels — 

" Whose frown can disappoint the proudest page. 
Whose approbation prosper even mine" 



i£ O Everlasting God, who hast ordained the services of angels and 
men in a wonderful order ; mercifully grant, that as thy holy angels 
always do thee service in heaven, so by thy appointment they may 
succor and defend us on earth, through Jesus Christ our Lord.'' 

Collect for St. Michael and All A ngels. 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Zodiac of Angels, Frontispiece. page 

The Creation, Celebrated by Angels, . . . .47 

The EscopwT of Angels, . . . . . .158 

The Ubi : or. Residence of Angels, ..... 186 

The Guardian Angel, ...... 189 

The Judgment Day, Heralded by Archangels, . . .193 

WOOD CUTS. 
Christ in the Garden succored by an Angel, Title. 

The Sisterhood of the Christian Graces, . \ . .5 

The Recording Angel and Star of Redemption, . . . 10 

Angels Surrounding the Throne of God, . " . . .13 

An Angel watching Children Asleep, .... 38 

The Volume of Inspiration, . . . . .203 

The Angel announcing the Nativity to the Shepherds, . . 226 



PRO EMI AL. 



But, oh ! the exceeding grace 

Of God Most High, that loves his creatures so, 

And all his works with mercy doth embrace, 

That blessed Angels he sends to and fro, — 

How oft do they their silver bowers leave, 

To come to succor us, that succor want ! 

And all for love, and nothing for reward : 

Oh ! why should God in heaven to man have such regard ! 

Spencer. 

Man he made, and for him built 

Magnificent this world, and earth his seat, 
Him Lord pronounc'd ; and, oh ! indignity ! 
Subjected to his service Angel-wings, 
And flaming ministers to watch and tend 
Their earthly charge. 

Milton's Paradise Lost. b. ix. 

When Thou, attended gloriously from heaven, 
Shalt in the sky appear, and from Thee send 
The summoning Archangels to proclaim 
Thy dread tribunal ! forthwith from all winds 
The living, and forthwith the cited dead 
Of all past ages, to the general doom 
Shall hasten. 

Id. b. iii. 



CORRECTIONS. 



Page 32, line 19, for applied, read apply. 
" 45, line 12, for their, read the. 
" 61, line 21, for beautiful, read beatific. 
" 62, line 29, for by, read but. 
11 63, line 18, before chambers, insert his. 
" 101, line 30, for consolitary, read consolatory. 
" 170, line 12, for aereal, read aerial. 
" " line 23, for inscrutible, read inscrutable. 
" 177, line 2, for the skies, read heaven. 
" 178, line 22, for sanitary, read sanitive. 
" 180, line 30, before Christ, insert of. 

190, line 12, for prosperity, read posterity, 
" 205, line 4, for invoking, read involving. 



INTRODUCTION. 




Bright Angels, with adoring face, 

In all their shining forms, 
Stand waiting, round the throne of grace, 

For gifts to mortal worms. — Dr. Watts, 

altered and accommodated. 

Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who 
shall be heirs of salvation ? — Hebrews 1 : 14. 

The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all 
them that have pleasure therein. Psalm cxi. 2. — 
Invoking the guiding afflatus of that sacred Inspiration 
which animated the fervid exclamation of the pious and 
philosophic Psalmist, whilst contemplating in the secret 
chamber of rapt meditation, the mighty and mysterious op- 
erations of Jehovah, displayed in the wondrous works of 
2 



18 



IKTEODrCTION. 



the visible creation, the retributive procedures of a special 
providence, the revealed and prophetic glories connected 
with the gracious economy of Redemption — would vre seek 
to introduce — by a few preliminary observations, sustained 
by the collated remarks and collateral opinions of diverse 
authors — to the reader's serious and believing attention, the 
ennobling and inviting subject attempted in the succeeding 
pages, prompted by the sincere desire and humble hope, 
that it may be canvassed in such a manner, as in no wise to 
invalidate its manifest attractions, elevating sublimity, con- 
solatory support, devotional and edifying tendency. 

That a theme, so pregnant with the noblest sentiments and 
divinest considerations should have been treated with such 
marked indifference, cannot certainly be justified, on the 
alleged plea, that the perversion or abuse of any doctrine 
revealed in the volume of Inspiration, founded either upon 
the danger of the idolatrous or interdicted worship of 
angels,* or, the impenetrable mysteriousness by which it 

* the Roman Church doth ill, 

When they adore within their churches still, 

Saints, Images, and Pictures much unfitting, 

As therehy great idolatry committing ; 

And as for miracles, they further say, 

That such are wrought amongst them every day ; 

Some handle hot coals, without scorching, can, 

And maids bear children 

Thomas Heywood, Hierarchic of the Angells, 1653. 

There seems to have been in the kingdom of Judah an uninterrupted con- 
test between the worshippers of Jehovah and those of idols, resisting all the 
appeals of their prophets, the miracles of Elijah and Elisha, the judgments of 
God, the continued fulfillment of various predictions, and every other evi- 
dence of the truth of their Scriptures. — Dr. George Townsend, Notes on 
Witch of Endor. 

The history of the Jews is the record of a continual struggle between pure 
Theism supported by the most terrible sanctions, and the strangely fascin- 



INTRODUCTION. 



19 



is enveloped to our finite reason and degenerated facul- 
ties ; and which disregard is fully substantiated, not 
merely by the prevailing slight of professing believers in 
the Bible, but also corroborated by the printed testimony of 
several pious, learned, and distinguished theologians who 
have adorned the various denominations of our common 
Christianity. 

In a scarce, valuable, and anonymous treatise entitled 
u Pneumatologia* or a Discourse on Angels," published in 
the year 1701, from the pen of a writer, who, to the rare 
endowment of a lucid judgment, unites the erudition of the 
scholar, the acuteness of the philosopher, the piety of a saint, 
and occasionally, the persuasive eloquence of the rhetorician ; 
in a well written recommendatory preface by a Mr. George 
Hammond, the following appropriate remarks occur : " The 
subject here undertaken to be treated upon, is certainly 
very high and noble in itself, and exceedingly useful for us, 
to be acquainted withal, in regard there is so much spoken 
of the angels and their ministry in the Holy Scriptures. 
For that which is written therein, is written for our learn- 
ing. It is then a matter which deserves to be soberly in- 
quired into. What may be the reason why the Scripture- 

ating desire of having some visible and tangible object of adoration. Upon 
the same principle or inclination may be explained, the strong tendency of 
the multitude in all ages and nations, to idolatry. — Mac att lay's Review of 
Milton. 

The angelical nature, though it is a secret for the most part to us till we 
come to heaven ; yet it is such a secret as we may modestly inquire into and 
seek to know so far as it is revealed, either in nature or the Scriptures. — 
Pneumatologia. 

* I beg to avail myself of this opportunity, to tender my respectful ac- 
knowledgments to the Rev. Mr. Cady for his obliging permission to consult 
some curious old theological tomes belonging to the library of the Episcopal 
Theological Seminary, which were not to be met with in any other of the 
public libraries of this city. 



20 



INTRODUCTION. 



doctrine concerning angels is no more attended to 1 For it 
is, in our time, but sparingly treated upon ; and not so fre- 
quently and deeply in the thoughts of Christians, as it should 
be ; and consequently not improved by the children of God 
to their growth in faith, holiness, and comfort as might be. 
Let me be pardoned, if I offer my conjecture in two in- 
stances : (1.) The bold, curious, and confident speculations 
touching the angels, both in elder times, and in the days of 
the schoolmen, who intruded into things not seen, vainly 
puffed up by their fleshly minds. This makes way for a 
voluntary humility, and issued in the worshipping of angels. 
And some (it is probable), that they might avoid this rock, 
have thought it dangerous to be inquisitive into these things, 
which are taught in the Scripture of Truth concerning them. 
(2). The irreligiousness and skepticism* of materialists and 
sadducees, who deny, or pretend to doubt whether there are, 
indeed, any immaterial beings, at all. And if there be no 
separate spirits, as to their existence, there can be noth- 
ing spoken, concerning such, that is to be regarded." Fur- 
ther adding : " The worthy author, how much soever he 
extols the dignity of angels and their wonderful properties, 
yet he still leaves them and their ministrations under the 
sovereign will and command of God, and Jesus Christ their 
head, to whom they devote themselves and their services." 

Archbishop Tillotson observes, " The doctrine of angels 
is not a peculiar one of the Jewish or Christian religion, 
but the general doctrine of all religions that ever were, and 
therefore cannot be objected against by any but atheists. 
And yet I know not whence it comes to pass, that this great 

* The first great errors that infested the Christian Church were those 
of the Gnostics ; who pretended into a very sublime yvwis, or Mystic The- 
ology, which was no other than a corrupt complex of Orphic, -Pythagoric, 
and Judaic infusion. — Gale, Court of the Gentiles, 1676. 



IXTRODUCTIOX. 



21 



truth, which is so comfortable to mankind, is so very little 
understood by us. Perhaps the corruption of so great a 
part of the Christian church in the point of worshipping the 
angels, may have run us so far into the other extreme, as 
scarcely to acknowledge any benefit by them. But surely, 
we may believe they do us good without any obligation to 
pray to them ; and may own them as the ministers of God's 
providence without making them the objects of our worship." 

The devout Bishop Hall, likewise, respecting the neglect 
of this sublime and glorious doctrine, to which he refers in 
his " Tractate Concerning the Invisible "World," thus re- 
bukingly soliloquizes in one of his searching meditations. 
" The good Lord forgive me, for that I have suffered myself 
so much to forget his Divine presence, and so the presence of 
his angels. It is, I confess, my great sin that I have filled 
mine eyes with other objects, and have been slack in return- 
ing praises to my God, for the continued assistance of those 
blessed and beneficent spirits. Oh ! that the dust and clay 
were so washed out of mine eyes, that I might behold, to- 
gether with the presence, the numbers, the beauties and ex- 
cellencies of those ever present guardians." With regard 
to the reprehensible oversight of the valid claims of this in- 
teresting doctrine of Revelation, the late excellent Rev. 
Mr. Bickersteth has thrown out the following judicious and 
forcible intimations and requisitions. " No part of divine 
truth can be neglected without spiritual loss, and it is too 
evident that the deep and mysterious doctrine of Revelation 
respecting evil spirits and good angels, has been far too 
much disregarded in our age. This has arisen, on the one 
hand, from the wide spread of infidel principles, and on the 
other from the unscriptural, idolatrous and extravagant at- 
tention paid to this subject in the Church of Rome, in which 
good angels are worshipped, and the evil spirits brought for- 



22 



ESTTEODUCTIOX. 



■ward to foster delusions. But we gain no solid victory over 
Popery, by omitting the truths which have been corrupted 
and abused. Oar duty is rather to take forth the precious 
from the vile, and hold fast the simple and plain truth re- 
vealed for us and our children ; thus shall we be as God's 
mouth to the people." Equally applicable are his addition- 
al observations, as bearing, with fearful apprehension upon 
the fatal tendency of those vicious theories, fraudulent ma- 
noeuvres, baneful and debasing delusions which attend the 
black retinue of the " Legion " of modern pretenders to 
a familiar intercourse, criminal and intriguing connection 
with supernatural agencies and spiritual beings, which dis- 
grace the character of the present day, stultifying the un- 
derstanding of infidel advocates, as well as ensnaring their 
imbecile devotees into the entanglements of a moral blind- 
ness and fearful perdition. * In view of these threatened 

* To the sober mind, it is painful to reflect, that a talented and popular 
clergyman of this city should have countenanced, by his attendance, the Sa- 
tanic imposture, to converse with the spirits of the Rochester knockings f ' 
and which became so barefaced a fraud as even to be denounced by their 
recent agrarian and socialist advocate. Has it not the appearance of a wick- 
ed hypocrisy for a preacher of the gospel of Christ to visit such blasphem- 
ous exhibitions, in impious disregard to the spirit and abiding moral obliga- 
tions of that interdict of divine authority recorded in Deut. xviii. 10, 11. 
" There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daugh- 
ter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or 
an enchanter, or a icitch. or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits: or a 
wizard, or a necromancer P The puerile plea of curiosity is no valid excuse. 
Was it not the indulgence of a forbidden and unhallowed curiosity which 
forfeited Paradise, " brought death into the world and all our woe,' 7 and re- 
quired the sacrificial atonement and piacular sufferings of the bleeding vic- 
tim on the ignominious Cross of Calvary ! 3Ioreover, why does it not more 
frequently occur to the thoughts of the professed adherents of the " pure and 
undefiled religion M of Christianity that to attend on the Sabbath, the lec- 
tures and discourses of declaimers of heterodox sentiments, who desecrate 
the sacred hours of the Lord's day in defending the infidel claims of the 



INTRODUCTION. 



23 



evils, he fills, with an urgent breath, the warning trumpet of 
serious admonitions and sagacious foresight, sounded forth 
in the following expostulation. u Looking at the signs of 
the times, and the long neglect and unnatural denial of all 
angelic ministrations or spiritual influence, and at the ex- 
press predictions of false Christs and false prophets, who 
shall show signs and wonders, insomuch that if it were 
possible, they should deceive the very elect, and that when 
men receive not the love of the truth that they might be 
saved, for this cause God shall send among them strong 
delusions that they should believe a lie. I cannot but think 
there is a painful prospect of a sudden recoil and religious 
revulsion from the present unbelief and misbelief, to an un- 
natural and undistinguishing credulity, when antichrist shall 
appear in his latest form, u with signs and lying wonders. 5 ' 
I would, therefore, leave an earnest caution on the minds of 
my readers. Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the 
spirits, ivhether they are of God. The Scriptures have 
forewarned us beforehand that we may not be led away with 
the error of the wicked and fall from, our own steadfast- 
ness." 

In the fervid expressions of devotion, actuated by the 
ardent enthusiasm of a genuine Christian philosophy, Mr. 
John Reynolds, in his disquisition or u Inquiries concerning 
the state and economy of the angelical worlds, 55 printed in 
1723, thus proceeds, u And surely we shall find in the an- 
gelical system such heights and depths, as will raise our ad- 
miration of that God, whose fiat created the various worlds 
he has made, and the beautiful administrations he has 

founders of antichristian systems, that by so doing, they virtually belie the 
profession of their faith, commit an awful affront on their avowed Redeem- 
er, and are verily guilty of a criminal violation of the fourth commandment 
of the decalogue ! G. C. 



24 



INTRODUCTION. 



chosen and ordained. No wonder we meet with inscrutable 
mysteries connected with the nature and order, laws and 
ministry of those incorporeal attendants that surround and 
applaud the Throne. Our inquisitive minds are apt to 
wonder that a door or casement is not opened for our clearer 
prospects into the celestial world, toward which we are 
called to travel. We admire, when these natives of heaven 
appeared, so often, in the primitive world, and came some- 
times, (one would think) upon lower offices and services ; 
that when so many inspired messengers came from God ; yea, 
that when the Lord Himself came from heaven, to teach us 
how to get there, they would none of them tell us more of 
the world from whence they came, or to which they would 
invite us ; and that they no more particularly describe the 
state, the inhabitants, employments, and felicities that are 
there. But they came not, it seems, to gratify our curi- 
osity ; but to direct us safely thither. An early thirst of 
undue knowledge soon ruined our race in the head of it, and 
it is not now to be indulged. Our greatest business and 
felicity are not to return to angels, (though they will be ex- 
ceeding good company,) but to Him that made (and can 
make blessed) both them and us ; and therefore the most 
the Lord of heaven tells us of them, (though he knew their 
essence, their regimen and offices so well) is, that they are 
glad when any one of us is reduced to repentance, and- re- 
conciled to God ; and therefore set in a fair way to their 
world, their enjoyments, and society. There we shall know 
them as much as we shall desire. In the mean time we are 
to walk by faith and hope in that light that has been af- 
forded us. And it will be our wisdom, as well as our duty, 
not barely to be content with, but to be thankful for that 
measure of supernatural revelation, that Divine wisdom has 
thought fit to vouchsafe to us ; which will suffice to guide us 



ixraoBrcTiox. 25 

to life and immortality, without any one's coming from the 
dead or descending from the world of native life and im- 
mortality." These important reflections, though well adap- 
ted to suppress the pruriency of that curiosity of the human 
mind, consequent on our degenerate condition, respecting 
those abstruse points of inquiry enshrined in the silence of 
Divine wisdom, yet, sufficient is revealed to excite our won- 
dering admiration, as well as promote our edification, and 
also afford supporting comfort as we prosecute our toilsome 
pilgrimage through the wilderness of this vain world, till we 
have attained to the blissful associations and society of 
angels, and reached the bright and eternal residences of those 
illustrious and celestial immortals, for as Dr. Owen justly 
remarks : " It is the height of ingratitude not to search 
after what may be known of this great privilege and mercy 
whereof we are made partakers in the ministry of angels. 
God hath neither appointed or revealed it for nothing. He 
expects a revenue of praise and glory for it ; and how can 
we bless him for it when we know nothing about it 1 This 
ministry then of angels, is that which with sobriety we are, 
in a way of duty, to inquire into. Let us on this account 
glorify God and be thankful. Great is the privilege, mani- 
fold are the blessings and benefits that we are made par- 
takers of by this ministry of angels. What shall we render 
for them and to them? Shall we go and bow ourselves 
down to the angels themselves and pay our homage of obe- 
dience to them % They ail cry out with one accord : " See 
you do it not, we are your fellow-servants." What shall 
we then do ? Why, say they, worship God ! Glorify and 
praise him, who is God of all angels ; who sends them unto 
whom they minister in all they do for us. Let us bless 
God, I say, for the ministry of angels." 

In an exceedingly able and very orthodox article contrib- 



26 



INTRODUCTION. 



uted by Professor Moses Stuart to the Bibliotheca Sacra 5 
he starts with this exegetical interrogatory. u Of what 
importance can the doctrine respecting good and eyil angels 
be to ns ? We owe them, it is said, no duty of homage or 
worship, and as they are invisible beings, if they exist at 
all, we can never decide with any certainty whether or when 
they interpose in our behalf or interfere for the sake of in- 
juring us ? We have therefore no interest in this matter. 

" I cannot accede to such a view of the subject ; the 
Scriptures have taught us, that the original holy and happy 
condition of our race was essentially changed by the inter- 
ference and crafty malignity of Satan. The necessity of 
the redemption of the Son of God stands inseparably con- 
nected with this. The atonement, the nucleus and centre 
of Christianity proper, is, in some important respects, a 
consequence of Satan's interference ; or in other words it 
was rendered necessary by the tempter when he assailed our 
first parents. Nor is this all which may be truly and 
properly said in regard to this subject. If there are good 
angels, the voluntary ministers of God's will ; or evil ones 
who are the executioners of his justice, or examples in their 
sufferings of the proper desert of sin ; then, these facts are 
important to us, inasmuch as they cast light upon God's 
providential government of the world — a subject of deep in- 
terest to all moral and accountable beings. 

" There is another point of view in which we may con- 
template this subject. The Scriptures of the Old and New 
Testament are filled with passages that have respect to an- 
gels good or evil. Some of these passages are involved in 
not a little obscurity as presented to us, because we are not 
sufficiently familiar with the Hebrew modes of expression 
and thought to appreciate at once the full meaning of the 
sacred writers. If now it be true that a proper attention 



IXTRODrCTIOX . 



27 



to the angelology of the Scriptures will help us to explain 
these, and especially in case it will render most of the ob- 
scure passages in question altogether intelligible, then at- 
tention to this subject cannot be fairly deemed unimpor- 
tant. ' 5 

Sufficient, it is presumed, has now been advanced, 
with the support of suitable authorities, fairly to ward off 
the unmeaning cavils of a determined or disguised scepti- 
cism, as well as abash the daring buffoonery* of a profane 
derision, to whose impiety the subject may be exposed, re- 
inforced by the scoffing irreligion of those who ridicule, as 
superlatively absurd, the idea, and reject, alike, the internal 
and historic evidences of the veritable existence of immate- 
rial beings, those real, though invisible instruments, who 
unceasingly carry forward the merciful protection, bgievo- 
lent designs, mysterious operations and punitive judgments 
of the Supreme Governor of the moral, and the Almighty 
Creator and Upholder of the material universe ; inasmuch 
as the belief of their actuality is classed by them amongst 
those intangible objects of sense, whose nature and essence, 
mode or vehicle of communication with the inhabitants of 
this lower world are beyond the limited comprehension of 
the finite and degenerate faculties of the human mindf : — 

* A medical satirist, indulging " in jestings not convenient," pertly in- 
quired of me, " If I had ever caught an angel and dissected him " / Such an 
extraordinary and perplexing case of profound sagacity, brimstone wit and 
abstruse morality, unquestionably comes clear of all exceptions and demur- 
rers, within the tenebrious jurisdiction of the Areopagus of Pandemonium. 

G. C. 

f Metaphysicians incline to universal skepticism, finding in the vast re- 
gions of philosophy we can, to adopt an homely phrase, scarcely see be- 
yond our noses ; have dwelt with something like exultation on the incapa- 
city of man's intellect to overcome the difficulties which surround the most 
indubitable truths.— St. John, Prelim. Disc, to Browne 1 s Religio. 



28 



INTRODUCTION. 



despising the assistance and illumination of that faith* of 
celestial birth, by which alone they obtain a willing and ben- 
eficial reception into the intellect and heart ; as she stands 
erect and unmoved, in the modest attitude of persuasive 
virtue,! upon the broad base of Inspiration, pointing, with 

* Reason is a rebel unto Faith, and considers her propositions as absurd. 
There are a set of heads, that can credit the relations of mariners, yet ques- 
tion the testimonies of St. Paul ; and peremptorily maintain the traditions 
of iElian or Pliny, yet in histories of Scripture raise queries and objections ; 
believing no more than they can parallel in human authors. — Sir Thomas 
Browne, Religico Medicii. 

To believe only possibilities is not faith, but mere philosophy ; many 
things are true in divinity which are neither inducible by reason, nor con- 
firmable by sense ; and many things in philosophy confirmable by sense, yet 
not inducible by reason. — Id, Christian Morals. 

The skeptic denies the realities of faith, as the blind might deny the 
beauty of color, or the deaf the harmony of sound. — Slack, Ministry of the 
Beautiful. 

The wisest of us, which is the holiest, see somewhat by the eye of 
faith— faith being the end of wisdom, the great lesson of the universe. — In. 

Faith only can raise us above this little daily life, and worldly business ; 
that only can give the sfcul such a direction to higher things, and to objects 
and ideas which alone have value and importance, — and amidst the circling 
causes of appearances and events, is an immovable pole. — M. Yon Hum- 
boldt, Thoughts, fyc, of a Statesman. 

Never yet did there exist a full faith on the divine word which did not 
expand the intellect, while it purified the heart : which did not multiply 
the aims and objects of the understanding, while it fixed and simplified those 
of the desires and passions. — Coleridge's Aids to Reflection. 

Faith subsists in the synthesis of the Reason and the individual Will. 
Faith is the source and sum, the energy and principle of the fidelity of man 
to God, by the subordination of his human will, in all provinces of his na- 
ture, to his reason, as the sum of spiritual Truth, representing and manifest- 
ing the Will Divine. — Id, Confessions of an Inquiring Mind. * 

f Infidel France, in the height and frenzy of her barbarities and wickedness 
on throwing off the recognition of the divine authority of the Supreme and 
Moral Governor of the Universe, substituted as the idol of national worship 
a worse than pagan object in the gross exhibition of the nude prostitute of 
an egregiously depraved imagination as the unnatural, unphilosophical and 
lying representative of the " Goddess of Reason. 77 For this, and other abom- 
inations, fearful jud ments are still suspended over her, G. C. 



INTRODUCTION. 



29 



a serene and attractive countenance, to the "living oracles" 
of immutable and eternal Truth ; — repudiating her sacred 
claims and glorious hopes, so vividly described in the sub- 
lime definition of an apostle, as " the confident expectation 
of things hoped for, the conviction of things which are not 
seen being the only rational medium by which ice un- 
derstand the worlds were framed by the word of God, so 
that things which are seen were not made of those things 
which do appear ; whilst by the assurances of her enlight- 
ened apprehensions, she enables us to realize the amazing- 
scenes of the invisible and eternal world, — to await, with 
patience, the predicted destruction of the present fabric of 
this terrestial globe, — to anticipate the anxious resurrection 
of the redeemed in Christ, — to be prepared for the awful 
solemnities of the final judgment, — to espy in the resplen- 
dent perspective of eternity, " the new heavens and new 
earth " of the upper kingdom and sanctuary, welcomed by 
the " innumerable company of angels " beatified in the un- 
fading grandeur, inconceivable felicities and immortal youth 
of the heavenly state ; 

" Where, the blest immortals, 

In love's pure beauty stand ; 
Alluring us, through faith's translucent portals, 
Into the better land.' 7 

Such exalting beatitude, ethereal sympathies, and brilliant 
prospects constitute the imperishable inheritance of the chil- 
dren of Faith ; confirmed by the cheering smiles of an ap- 
proving providence, and the sustaining promises of Divine 
asssurance as they advance along the irradiated thorough- 
fare of obedience and holiness to the " pearly gates" of 
the city of the heavenly Jerusalem ! During their career 
on earth, they are surrounded by the fiery " chariots " and 
" horsemen " of the host of spiritual and benignant agencies 



30 



IXTEODUCTIOX. 



who take a deep interest in their welfare, strewing their 
path with the bright and fragrant flowers of peace and joy, 
and refreshing their fainting souls with the sweetest music 
of celestial melody. Wisely, therefore, does it behoove 
every tempted child of fallen Adam, to heed the momentous 
admonition of Lord Bacon, in the philosophy of his religion. 
" Not to seek the living among the dead, but, soberly, to 
render unto faith the things that are faith's. 55 

By a different description of minds, or the lukewarm pro- 
fessors of a nominal Christianity, the discussion or expres- 
sion of a belief, in the varied circumstances, in which the 
specific instrumentality of angelic beings has been, and is 
still employed, as connected with the believer's present wel- 
fare and eternal destiny, will be probably demurred to, on 
the shallow ground, that the subject is of too speculative a 
character to be of any essential service in promoting the 
practice of religious duties or stimulating to the more fervid 
exercises and frequent communion of devotional piety ; but, 
on the contrary, rather to be discountenanced, from its ob- 
vious tendency to foster the fatal delusions of a fanatical 
presumption and forbidden curiosity, rashly intruding them- 
selves into those arcana of nature and the secrets of the 
spiritual world, which it has pleased an all-wise God to 
conceal within the veil of impenetrable mysteries ; yet, who, 
nevertheless, with an earnestness and devotion that would 
honor a martyr's zeal, and the characteristic inconsistencies 
of a superficial faith advocate and revel in the most start- 
ling absurdities of modern Mesmerism, the sublimated hal- 
lucinations of a frenzied Swedenborg, and the insidious 
neology and transcendentalism of the German school of 
Divinity. 

To the multifarious and antagonistic demurrers of vain 
hypotheses, assuredly, it is not requisite to offer an extended 



INTRODUCTION. 



31 



reply ; forasmuch as the authority and facts of the Bible 
which relate the embassy and appearance of angels, during 
the Adamic, patriarchal, and Mosaic economy — the fulfill- 
ment of prophecy when they announced the glad tidings of 
redemption for mankind — the corroborative declarations of 
the Great Teacher, whilst in the days of his humiliation He 
sojourned upon this earth, respecting them ; together with 
that angelic succor which sympathized with the agonized 
Redeemer in the sorrowful garden of Gethsemane — their 
overpowering splendor which confounded the affrighted sol- 
diery of the guarded sepulchre ; and their gracious informa- 
tion to the desponding Magdalene, as she stood in the atti- 
tude and anguish of pensive grief, beside the virgin and va- 
cated tomb of the risen Saviour— their frequent interposition 
chronicled in the history of the lives and missions of the 
apostles, in their behalf, as the first heralds of the gospel of 
salvation, and tow ard the martyred disciples of the Prince of 
Peace — their attendance and commission to execute the 
final dispensation of Jehovah, at the consummation of all 
things, on the exit of time, revealed in the awful disclosures 
of the apocalypse of St. John, fully answer, and solemnly 
rebuke the futility of all such opposing objections, and make 
manifest the serious temerity of such willful and question- 
ing misbelief.* 

With humble sincerity, it is hoped, in the ensuing pages, 
that no statement will be advanced, opinion adduced, or 

* Purely speculative opinions are of little value except so far as they tend 
to promote the moral objects and a saving belief in the truth of Christi- 
anity. — Foster, Christian Morals. 

We repel that philosophizing spirit which consists in resolving all the 
extraordinary phenomena recorded in the Bible into the mere effect of natu- 
ral causes. Nothing can be more contemptible than such presumption of 
philosophy. — Idem. 



32 



IlSTP.ODrCTlOX. 



speculation presented, of "private interpretation," that 
will not bear the sanction of Scripture warrant ; the Bible 
being the only acknowledged standard of authority — the 
only infallible oracle of our faith. From this living foun- 
tain of Divine Truth, whose crystal stream issues from, and 
circulates around, the throne of inspiring wisdom and all- 
sufficient grace, would we draw pure, and copious draughts of 
spiritual knowledge.* With reverential gratitude would we 
heed the bright lamp of Inspiration, suspended by the golden 
chain of redeeming love, from the footstool of forgiving 
mercy, whose guiding and radiant beams, illumining the 
dreary passage of this wilderness-world, and gilding the 
gloomy entrance to the valley of the shadow of death, re- 
flect their extended effulgence upon the beautiful portals of 
the everlasting gates of the celestial city, surrounded by the 
attendant and glittering train of the angelic messengers of 
the Majesty of heaven ! 

Happy, therefore, thrice happy they, who in the attain- 
ment of the divine science of spiritual discoveries applied 
this Holy Book as an effective repellant to the subtle mag- 
netism of Satanic suggestions, and as the safest and most 
certain non-conductor of the latent electricity of those fal- 
lacious theories, too abundantly generated; in the charged 
batteries of the secret laboratory of a depraved heart and 
perverted reason ! 

Controlled by the foregoing determination, with the in- 
voked guidance of the divine blessing, will we endeavor to 
prosecute an inquiry into the revealed history, exalted rank, 

* It is an admirable observation closing an introduction pointing out the 
pre-requisites for the correct composition and essential enjoyment of Divine 
Poetry, prefixed to the poem on the Messiah by the devout though too 
rhapsodical. Klopstock: " It requires more than the knowledge of .mytholo- 
gy to understand and feel the beauties of Homer, and much more than phi- 
losophy to relish the sublime graces of Revelation."' — G. C. 



DsTEODrCTIOX. 



33 



transcendent attributes, moral virtues, attractive lineaments, 
and heavenly habitudes of those noble and illustrious beings 
— the ministering and adoring an gels ^ of Jehovah. 

We pause to insert the following extracts from the notes 
of Dr. George Townsend's Historical and Chronological 
Arrangement of the New Testament, a work preeminently 
deserving of a place in every Christian's library ; and which 
cannot but be read with intense interest and persuasive im- 
pression. 

"The doctrine o#the ministry of angels, so much esteemed 
by the primitive church, as well as by the most eminent and 
pious Christians of all ages, has now become one of those which, 
without any one well-founded argument, is to be reasoned away. 
The repeated appearance of angels, both in the old and new dis- 
pensations, seems designed to point out to us the near, though 
mysterious, connection of the invisible state with that which 
we now inhabit. And what can be more consolatory to the 
believer, than the idea, corroborated by numerous passages in 
the Scripture, than the belief, that the angels of heaven are 
around us, the ministering spirits of God for our good, watch- 
ing over us, and fulfilling the wisdom of his providence ! Why 
should the opinion be disclaimed ? Angels were present at the 
creation ; they have been repeatedly manifested to man. To 
Isaiah the seraphim appeared veiling their faces with wide- 
spreading wings. The form that was visible to Ezekiel had the 
semblance of a lambent flame, enveloping what seemed its body. 
To the women they appeared in shining garments, and to the 
keepers of the sepulchre as lightning, with raiment white as 
snow. They are the happy possessors of that blessedness to 
which the spirits of the departed hope to be admitted. And 
they shall be again visible in their thousands of thousands at 
that magnificent and glorious triumph, when the Ancient of 
Days shall sit on the throne of his glory, and the assembled 
universe be summoned before his high tribunal. Is it impossible, 



3i 



INTRODUCTION. 



then, that they are invisible yet efficient agents in many of 
those innumerable events which are attended with moral and re- 
ligious benefit to individuals and to the world ; which are but 
too generally ascribed to incidental circumstances, or the well- 
laid plans of human policy 1 

" The soul of man is gifted with powers and properties which 
are distinct from the human body, and which it possesses in 
common with superior beings. I cannot, therefore, believe that 
idea to be irrational, which represents the manner of our pres- 
ent union with the invisible world by the following ingenious 
and curious image. Suppose a number of lighted lamps were 
placed in a room, one of which only was covered with an earth- 
en vessel ; the lamp so encumbered, as soon as the covering was 
either broken or removed, would find itself in the same state 
and condition with the other lamps. So it may be with the ac- 
countable spirit of man. The earthen vessel, the body, may be 
broken by violence, or silently destroyed by sickness or age, 
but, as soon as the veil or the covering of the body is removed, 
the unfettered spirit finds itself the companion of kindred spirits, 
winch, though unseen, are continually surrounding it. The time 
is not far hence, when we shall know even as we are known ; 
in the meantime, the very attempt to speculate on these things 
elevates and purines the mind. 

" The German commentators of the self-named liberal class, en" 
deavor to explain away every miracle recorded in the New Testa- 
ment, by representing them as natural events which have only 
been considered as miraculous by the misapprehending of the 
Hebraisms of the inspired writers. 

" The explanation of Hezelius is so singular, that it may ap- 
pear doubtful whether in his eagerness to remove the opinions 
of a miraculous interference by an angel, he does not establish 
a still greater miracle. He thinks that a flash of lightning pen- 
etrated the prison in the night, and melted the chains of St. 
Peter without injuring him. The apostle rose up, and saw the 



INTRODUCTION. 



35 



soldiers who guarded him struck prostrate to the ground by the 
force of the lightning. He passed them as if led by the flash 
of lightning, and escaped from the prison before he perceived 
that he had been liberated by the providence of God. So com- 
pletely, however, has the skeptical philosophy of the day per- 
vaded society, that even among professed Christians, he would 
now be esteemed a visionary, who should venture to declare his 
belief in this most favorite tenet of the ancient church. The early 
fathers regarded the ministry of angels as a consoling and beau- 
tiful doctrine, and so much at that time was it held in veneration, 
that the founders of Christianity cautioned their early converts 
against permitting their reverence to degenerate into adoration. 
We now go to the opposite extreme, and seldom think of their 
existence ; yet what is to be found in this belief, even if the 
Scriptures had not revealed it, which is contrary to our reason % 
We believe in our own existence, and in the existence of God ; 
is it utterly improbable, then, that between us, who are so in- 
ferior, and the Creator, who is so wonderful and incomprehen- 
sible, infinite gradations of beings should exist, some of whom 
are employed in executing the will of the Deity toward finite 
creatures ? Does not God act even by human means in the 
visible government of the affairs of the earth ? what absurdity, 
then, can be discovered in the opinion that the spiritual nature 
of man should be under the guardianship of spiritual beings ? 
This, in fact, was a doctrine universally received till it became 
perverted and degraded by vain and idle speculations, — till it 
became so encumbered with absurdities, that the belief itself 
was rejected. Some writers on this subject went so far as to 
imagine they could ascertain the orders of a hierarchy, and 
could even assert the numbers of each rank. Others changed 
the office and ministry of angels, investing them with indepen- 
dent control over the works of God, an opinion strongly and 
justly reprobated by the most eminent authorities. And be- 
cause in the original Hebrew that which executes the will of the 



36 



INTRODUCTION. 



Deity is sometimes called an " angel." whether it be winds 
or storms, fire or air : Many again have transformed the angels 
in the Old Testament into obedient elements, accomplishing 
the designs of Providence, according to which hypothesis, the 
aged patriarch must have prayed that the blessings of an ele- 
ment might descend upon his grandchildren. The Messiah 
must have been created a little lower than the winds and the 
floods, who. in like manner, were commanded to worship him ; 
and. again, when the superiority of Christ is declared, the pas- 
sage must be rendered : 4 To which of the elements said he at 
any time, sit thou on my right hand, until I make thy foes my 
footstool. 5 Leaving all such fantastic and unreasonable inter- 
pretations out of the question, let us turn to that interpretation 
of Scripture on this point, which has been acknowledged by all 
classes and divisions of Christians, from the time of the apostles 
to the present day. From the evidence of Revelation, we have 
grounds for believing that angels are spirits superior to man- 
kind, some of whom have lost, while others have preserved, the 
state of happiness in which they were primarily created, and 
that these are now opposed to each other. With the precise 
cause of the fall of the evil angels we are not made acquainted. 
We only know that they retain the remembrance of their origi- 
nal condition ; that they are powerful, though under restraint ; 
that gradations of superiority and influence exist among them ; 
that they acknowledge a superior head, and that they are des- 
tined to eternal punishment. 

" Of good angels, we learn, that they continue in their prime- 
val dignity. They are endued with great power, and because 
they are employed in the constant execution of the decrees of 
Providence, they have received the name of messengers or an- 
gels. They are called the armies and the hosts of heaven ; in 
imiumerable companies they surround the throne of Deity ; 
they are made partakers of his glory and rejoice to fulfill Ins 
will. 



INTRODUCTION. 



37 



" Their office, as ministering angels to the sincere and accept- 
ed worshippers of our common God, is more fully and accurately 
related. Through the whole volume of revelation we read of 
the agency of superior beings in the affairs of mankind. They 
were stationed at the tree of life in paradise. In Jacob's vision 
of the ladder, they are represented as ascending and descending 
upon earth. They appeared to the patriarchs, to Abraham, to 
Lot, to Jacob, and they were made alike the ministers of both 
the vengeance and mercy of God. They were intrusted with 
the destruction of the cities of the plain. ' And the angel of 
the Lord went out and smote in the camp of Sennacherib a 
hundred and fourscore and five thousand.' (2 Kings xix : 35.) 
God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it — who was seen 
between the earth and the heaven, having a drawn sword in his 
hand, stretched out over Jerusalem. In the New Testament, 
they announced the birth of Christ, and of his forerunner ; they 
became visible to the shepherds, and proclaimed the glad tidings 
of salvation to the senseless world. They are interested for, 
and sympathize with, man; for 'there is joy in heaven over 
one sinner that repenteth.' They were the watchful and anxious 
attendants of Christ in his human nature. They ministered to 
him after his triumph in the wilderness and his agony in the 
garden. As they announced his birth, so also they proclaimed 
his resurrection, his ascension, and his future return to judg- 
ment. They were made the spiritual means of communication 
between God and man. They were the divine witnesses of the 
whole scheme of Redemption. By an angel Joseph was warned 
to flee into Egypt. (Matt. ii. 13.) By an angel Cornelius was 
directed to the house of Peter. (Acts x. 3-22.) By an angel 
that apostle was released from prison. And by the ministry of 
an angel were signified to St. John those things which should be 
hereafter. In his last and mysterious revelation, the agency of 
superior beings is uniformly asserted, and they are represented 
as fulfilling the most solemn decrees of omnipotence. They 



38 



INTRODUCTION. 



are represented as standing on the four comers of the earth, as 
having the seal of the living God, as offering on the golden al- 
tar the incense and prayers of the saints, as holding the key of 
the bottomless pit ; and as executing the vengeance of God upon 
the visible creation, and upon all those who have not the seal 
of God upon their foreheads ; all which, though metaphorical 
expressions, imply the probable agency of these invisible beings 
in the affairs of the world. And w T hen time shall be no more, 
these holy beings who have sympathized with man here, and 
been witnesses of his actions, and the infinite mercies of his al- 
mighty Creator and Redeemer, will be the accusing or approv- 
ing spectators of the sentence passed upon him in eternity ; for 
our Savior has expressly declared, that ' whosoever shall con- 
fess me before men, him shall the Son of Man also confess be- 
fore the angels of God. But he that denied me before men 
shall be denied before the angels of God." — Dr. Townsend, 
Notes on the New Testament 



HISTORY AND NATURE, 



Upon the threshold of our intricate yet interesting and 
delectable subject, — approved by the united testimony and 
sanction of Revelation, Religion and Reason, that divinely- 
appointed triumvirate for the moral and mental government 
of man's social and spiritual nature, — would we conspicu- 
ously inscribe the Christian sentiment and judicious admo- 
nition of Lord Lyttleton, that, " God is pleased, in this 
present world, to appropriate and proportion our knowledge, 
not to our pride and curiosity, but to our wants and condi- 
tion." 

The peculiar brevity, transcendent simplicity and instruc- 
tive reserve which distinguish and dignify the Mosaic narra- 
tive, in reference to the primordial origin of all existences, 
and the vivific operations of the workmanship of omnipo- 
tence in the production of this material world, associated 
with the incorporeal and unseen presence of the subtle vi- 
talities of spiritual beings, plainly and evidently declare, 
that " it is the glory of God,* to whom belong secret things, f 
in their profound and fathomless depth,! to conceal " from 
the unhallowed temerity of mortal intrusion, those incom- 
prehensible mysteries which envelope the elemental princi- 
ples of organic life, and the essential attributes of spiritual 
essences ! For, notwithstanding the remarkable en clow - 



* Proverbs xxv. 2. f Deut. xxix. 29. + Romans xi. 33. 



40 



HISTORY AXD NATURE. 



nients and capacious faculties of the human intellect, is not 
the imperfect attainment of our knowledge, in connection 
"with the sublime and astonishing exhibitions of divine power, 
and benevolence and wisdom, admirably calculated to pro- 
mote a beneficial tendency upon the mind, with respect to 
the fear, and homage and adoration due towards, and the 
sense of our entire dependence upon, the constant care and 
protection, as well as providential supplies of the almighty 
Creator of " the heaven and the earth " % True ! with the 
first elements, the bases, the essences, of matter and spirit, 
and all things contained in the circumference or presented in 
the phenomena of being, the prying attempts of the most pen- 
etrative, enlarged and gifted understandings cannot cope. 
With their properties, qualities, combinations, affinities, 
component parts, specific influences and peculiar effects, 
however, much has been recently elicited by the aid, and 
brought to light in the surprising and splendid discoveries 
of the searching science of modern chemistry ; but, beyond 
this separating line of the demarcation of experience and 
knowledge, Reason is strictly forbidden to trespass, though 
to Faith, in the joyous hope of a believing expectation, 
guided by the gracious disclosures of Inspiration, she is en- 
couraged to a nearer and more anxious approach to the Su- 
preme Cause of all causes. 

This sacred and majestic laconicism is likewise applied 
to the early history and society of mankind, giving but very 
slight information to what extent the arts and sciences 
flourished in primeval time ; and withholding any very mi- 
nute description of those excessive vices and artificial re- 
finements of wickedness which provoked the awful punish- 
ment of divine displeasure, resulting in that watery destruc- 
tion which overwhelmed and swept the entire antediluvian 
race from off the surface of the polluted earth ! So, with 



HISTOEY A2sD XATUEE. 



41 



regard to the inherent principles and hidden workings of na- 
ture in the curious machinery of the material universe, the 
invisible inhabitants and the secret agencies of the ethereal 
world, the communications of the Bible are circumscribed 
by divine " wisdom and knowledge," in correspondence with 
the necessities and limitation* of our finite faculties, men- 
tal apprehensions, moral condition, immortal desires and 
eternal destiny, either in the blissful perfection of Heaven, 
or the dolorous perdition of Hell ! 

The unevangelical disquisitions of some theologico-geolo- 
gists to quadrate the discoveries of modern science with the 
infallible truth of God's word and the requisitions of a di- 
vine faith, it is to be apprehended, are calculated to produce 
a most unfavorable tendency on the proud and unenlightened 
mind. The observation of Dr. Anderson, in his recently 
published work entitled The Course of Creation, receives 
its own approbation. " The wisdom of man will be con- 
founded when it tries to fathom the methods and devices of 
the divine Artificer in originating his works- His safety 
will often be in distrusting his own understanding, in not 
magnifying overmuch the ingenuity of his own speculations ; 
and in sometimes believing that even science will be exalted 
by approximating to, rather than departing from, the lite- 
ralities of Scripture." 

Indeed, it is well for Philosophy to kindle her torch, and 
Reason to light her lamp, at the pure and brilliant flame, 
which ever burns with a steady and undiminished lustre upon 
the ethereal altar of the sacred temple of immutable and 

* K "We know but little of the invisible world, or of the manner in which 
the disembodied spirit continues to exist : our understanding and our appre- 
hension are so limited in this stage of existence, that we cannot comprehend 
one-half of those truths which both our senses, our reason and revelation 
compel us to approve." — Dr. Geo. Tov\'xsexd, Note on Witch of Endor. 

3 



42 



HISTORY AlsD NATURE. 



eternal Truth. The mind but once convinced upon the tes- 
timony of authentic history, and other demonstrative evi- 
dences of the inspiration of the Bible, whatever difficulties 
may arise, or apparent contradictions may present them- 
selves to its oracular declarations, in the recent discoveries 
of science, must not be allowed, even, for a single moment, 
to interfere with the valid and established claims of a divine 
Revelation. The obscure province of Reason and the bright 
regions of Faith are too remote, and the specific objects of 
the one, are too distinct and dissimilar from the heavenly 
aspirations of the other, and a holy faith can never succumb 
to the vain and haughty pretensions of the former, because, 
in her loftiest altitude she will never be able to reach the 
sublimities of the latter. The very instant that reason is 
permitted the ascendant, Faith, also, loses her virtue, her 
validity, her essence, — being at once lifeless, and bereft of 
her vitality upon the withdrawn favor and protection of her 
offended God. To suppose a Revelation devoid of myste- 
ries, involves the paradox of identifying the temple without 
its presiding God. Neither can I justify the bold assertion 
of the pompous philosophy of our quaint physician, in his 
Religio Medici, that in his religion there were not impossi- 
bilities (incomprehensibilities) enough to satisfy his faith : 
w r hen I reflect upon the incomprehensibility of the self-ex- 
istent Jehovah, who inhabiteth the immensurability of the 
circle of eternity, whose presence fills all space ; at whose fiat 
came forth, " out of nothing," the beautiful fabric of this 
fair creation, — the mysterious hypostasis of the holy trinity 
of the Godhead, — the permitted introduction of moral evil 
into this sin-disordered world, — the prophetic incarnation of 
Deity to impart validity to the atonement of the Redemption, 
in the substitution of the innocent for the guilty, typified in 
the sanguinary rites of the Aaronic priesthood and ceremonial, 



HISTORY AND NATURE. 



43 



to answer the demands of moral law and harmonize the essen- 
tial attributes of the divine character, — the wonderful and 
needful operations of the Holy Ghost, in Regeneration, by 
the constant descent of the enlightening, consolatory, and 
sanctifying influences of the promised Paraclete, — the re- 
vealed resurrection of the body, having been resolved into 
its original dust, to receive the irreversible sentence of its 
destiny, — during the transforming and purifying process of 
the conflagrant flames of a blazing universe, — in the pres- 
ence of the august assize of an assembled world, before the 
solemn tribunal of the omniscient scrutiny and righteous de- 
cision of the Angel- Jehovah Judge, upon the indictment of 
every thought, imagination and action, — every idle word and 
vain conversation, misapplied time and misimproved means 
of grace ; — in this awful whirlwind of mental emotion and 
spiritual consternation, u the small still voice " of Faith 
alone restores the tranquillity of my mind, and sustains my 
overwhelmed and fainting spirit ; whilst the thrilling apos- 
trophe of St. Paul, u 0 the depth of the riches both of the 
wisdom and knowledge of God ! how T unsearchable are his 
judgments, and his ways past finding out !" suits my agi- 
tated feelings best, elevates me, awhile, to the " third 
heaven " of his supercelestial vision, or supports me in the 
contemplation of his unutterable spiritual experience ; ar- 
resting the erratic inclinations of unbelief, and bidding her 
return, from whence she had wandered, to the orbit of faith 
in the solar system of Christianity, obscured in the penum- 
bra of doubts, and amidst the gravitating influences of cen- 
trifugal temptation, which, but for the polarizing attrac- 
tions of the Mystic Cross, would draw my oscillating soul 
away, from completing the epicycle of Christian duties and 
moral responsibilities and conscientious monitions belonging 



44 



HISTORY AXD NATURE. 



to that nebulous sphere in which Providence has appointed 
me to revolve, as my terrestrial axis.* 

Provided our investigations are conducted with the obedi- 
ence of a biblical faith, and the humility of a reverential sub- 
mission, in the reception of the revealed verities enshrined 
in the sanctuary of inspired truth ; it is, certainly, the privi- 
leged duty and peculiar delight of the enlightened mind and 
sanctified heart, soberly to examine the sacred and mysteri- 
ous chain of divine operations which link, in harmonious 
union, the wonderful economy of nature, the intercommuni- 
cation of spiritual and heavenly intelligences, with the in- 

* I believe that our estranged and divided ashes shall unite again ; that 
our separated dust, after so many pilgrimages and transformations into parts 
of minerals, plants, animals, elements — shall, at the voice of God, return into 
their primitive shapes, and join again to make up their primary and pre- 
destinated forms. As at the creation, there was a separation of that con- 
fused mass into its pieces ; so at the destruction thereof there shall be a sep- 
aration into its distinct individuals. As, at the creation of the world, all the 
distinct species which we behold lay involved in one mass, till the fruitful 
voice of God, separated the united multitude into several species ; so at the 
last day, when these corrupted relics shall be scattered in the wilderness of 
forms, and seem to have forgot their proper habits, God, by a powerful 
voice, shall command them back again into their proper shapes, and call 
them out by their single individuals ; then shall appear the fertility of Adam, 
and the magic of that sperm that hath dilated into so many millions. I 
have often beheld as a miracle that artificial resurrection and revivification 
of mercury, how being mortified into a thousand shapes, it assumes again its 
own and returns into its numerical self. This is that mystical philosophy 
from whence no true scholar becomes an atheist ; but from the visible ef- 
fects of nature grows up a real divine ; and beholds, not in a dream, as 
Ezekiel, but in an ocular and a visible object, the types of his resurrection. 

The life and spirit of all our actions is the resurrection, and a stable appre- 
hension that our ashes shall enjoy the fruit of our pious endeavors ; without 
this, all religion is a fallacy, and those impieties of Lucian, Euripides, and 
Julian, are no blasphemies, but sensible verities, and atheists have been the 
only philosophers. How shall the dead rise is no question of my faith ; to 
believe only possibilities is not faith but mere philosophy. — Sir T. Brow.ve, 



HISTORY AKD NATURE. 



45 



serutable scheme and saving dispensation of Redemption. 
In the expansive and luminous firmament of celestial reali- 
ties, the cheering and radiant doctrine of the appointed 
ministration and particular offices of unfallen angels, shines 
forth with a most vivid, attractive and transparent bright- 
ness ; assuring us that the invisible and commissioned co- 
horts which attend and surround the sapphire throne of 
Deity are constantly dispatched, — passing the flaming boun- 
daries of their own locality and habitation in the distant 
regions of ethereal glory, — and especially intrusted with be- 
nevolent embassies of love and mercy, grace and consola- 
tion to those " who shall be their heirs of salvation " ! 

Postponing, to the sequel, the presentation of a variety of 
relevant observations and irrefragable proofs demonstrative 
of the Inspiration of the -Bible, we assume the rationality 
and necessity of yielding an implicit belief to the infallible 
truth of Divine testimony, as the only safe and solid basis 
of unimpeachable authority, upon which to establish the 
doctrine and dogma of the real existence and ordained minis- 
tration of angelic intelligences ; illustrated by those appropri- 
ate and convincing facts recorded in the sacred Scriptures, 
which will exhibit to prominent view, the superlative excel- 
lence, supreme importance, and delightful character of the 
subject that we now advance to canvass in diametrical op- 
position to those impious negations, — originating in the natu- 
ral enmity of the human heart toward a holy and a righteous 
God, and the stiff-necked pride of the perverted intellect, as 
regards the revealed method of a sinner's acceptance in the 
sight of Jehovah, realized in the atonement, the mediation, 
and the economy of salvation,- — which have affronted the 
declarations of Holy Writ, and the faith and hopes of Chris- 
tianity from the days of the disputatious and scornful Jews 
of the Sadducean sect, down to the present time of the per- 



v 



46 



HISTORY AND NATURE. 



tinacious and infidel deism- of modern materiality, or the 
profligate pretensions of a profane mesmerism ; disguised in 
the protean assumptions of a pseudo-philosophy, as pre- 
sented in the multiform appearances of metamorphizing 
theories, chameleon beliefs, atheistical principles, practice 
and S} 7 stems.* 

Amidst the chaos of the phantasmagoric fictions and dis- 
cordant speculations, — evidently based upon distorted tra- 
ditions of the Mosaic narrative of the genesis or origin of the 
solar system of the visible world, — which have disfigured the 
pagan descriptions of the cosmogony of this earth, together 
with those philosophic theories upon whose unsubstantial foun- 
dations are constructed the mythological theogonies of the 
more polished and enlightened nations of Greece and Rome ; 

# No savage worshipping the most preposterous idol, ever believed greater 
absurdities, than a modern sceptic, who makes his small modicum of reason 
the standard by which to measure the boundless universe. Christianity in 
the past was not limited by eighteen and a half centuries, which we call its 
era. It illumined the earliest ages, it burned brighter in the soul of Plato, 
than in most minds now. The good and wise of all ages have been of one 
faith. The loftiest truth is never circumscribed by man's intellect. The 
deepest truths of religion and philosophy are made known to us by appeals 
to our sympathy. 

Nature will not allow man to intellectual ize himself into infidelity. 
Every grand prospect, every burst of melody carries conviction to the 
heart that truth is eternal, and man destined for immortality. 

Let the keenest intellect soar to its sublimest heights, and when it has 
found some great truth among the loftiest Alps of reason, if it sink deep into 
the heart of the discoverer, he will be able to bring it home to the hearts of 
others, not as a discovery of science, but as a verity of faith.— Slack, Minis- 
try of the Beautiful. 

To thoughtful observators the whole world is a phylactery, and every- 
thing we see an item of the wisdom, power, or goodness of God. Words 
cannot exceed, when they cannot express enough. Even the most winged 
thoughts fall at the setting out, and reach not the portal of Divinity. — Sir 
Thomas Browne, passim. 




Velehr ttleA •'••> 1 



HISTORY AND NATURE. 



47 



the only clear ray of light and information which Jehovah 
has condescended to vouchsafe, respecting the creation of 
spiritual and angelic beings is preserved and conveyed 
through the medium of that most ancient and authentic of 
all books, — whose supposed author was the Jewish lawgiver 
— the book of Job, where in the seventh verse of the thirty- 
eighth chapter, they are represented, under the appellation 
and character of the sons of God, as celebrating the stu- 
pendous and magnificent display of the power, and benevo- 
lence, and wisdom of the Deity, in the glorious exhibition 
and appearance of the visible and various w T orks of a com- 
pleted universe, having received the complacent approbation 
of the Almighty Architect, as they sprang up innumerable, 
under the omnific influence of the uncreated beam of the 
Sun of Righteousness, along the shining banks of the crystal 
river of life, on the bright morning of everlasting day, in- 
stinct with the unfading youth of immortality !— 

" From multitudes of angels, with a shout 
Loud as from numbers without number, burst 
Forth blessed voices, uttering joy. 

dfe 3k 3k 3k 3k 3k 

tv- w -Jr- -Tr 

All these with ceaseless praise his works behold 

Both day and night — 

Singing their great Creator. - " — Milton. 

Beyond the boundary line of inspired information, with 
which divine wisdom, as it were, has fenced in, this sublime 
and inscrutable subject, it is vain for mortal intellect to try 
to traverse, by attempting the irrational, presumptuous, and 
indevout endeavor to penetrate through the veil of the in- 
tentional silence of unrevealed mystery — for as much as any 
additional knowledge, if it were attainable by the unaided 
effort of our finite comprehension, we cannot perceive, would 
either promote our happiness, deepen our penitence, advance 
our holiness, establish our faith, superinduce greater spiritu- 



48 



HISTORY AND KATUKE. 



ality of mind, or more effectually secure our salvation ; 
whilst from the reserve of the Mosaic account, which makes 
no mention of angels, the design of the Jewish lawgiver, is, 
therefore, obviously intended to prefer a practical confuta- 
tion of the ancient and prevalent idolatry of Sabeism, or the 
worship of sun, moon, and stars, evidently referred to by 
the venerable and renowned patriarch Job : If I beheld the 
sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness ; 
and my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth 
kissed my hand. 

Equally futile, fabulous and fantastical are those specu- 
lations which have been indulged to adjust and determine 
the precise period of the creation of angelical intelligences ; 
for some, in the foolishness of their mental conception, aim- 
ing " to be wise above what is written," have supposed 
they were created on the same clay with the " heaven and 
the earth;" implying that Moses included them under those 
terms, in the declaration that In the beginning God cre- 
ated the heavens and the earth ; others, that he intended 
them under the epithet light, * which God created on the 
first day, comprehending under that expression both angels 

* When light was commanded, then were the angels created. Thai 
when God separated the light from the darkness, by that disunion, is to be 
understood, the dreadful and terrible judgments of God against the Devil and 
his angels, who, from being angels of light, by reason of their pride and re- 
bellion were converted into Devils of darkness. At the same time, the 
matter of the four elements with spiritual creatures was produced, viz*, 
those spiritual and corporeal bodies which were created in the beginning of 
time. Life, wisdom, and Light designate the angels who are said to have 
been first created, by virtue of their excellency and dignity, and especially 
ordained to contemplate, praise, and magnify Almighty God's liberality and 
goodness throughout all generations. 

It was a beautiful superstition, — perhaps a true one — that of the luminous 
nature of the soul. Light with its kindred agencies is the most spiritual of 
physical existences. — Slack. Ministry of the Beautiful* 



HISTORY AKD NATURE. 



49 



and souls ; and also, that the soul of Adam was created be- 
fore his body, like as the angels were, and afterwards 
breathed and divinely infused into him. 

The Hebrews, likewise, held the conceit, that they were 
created on the second day ; and that God consulted them, 
saying, Let us make man in our image, after our like- 
ness : others, again, maintain the opinion that they were 
called into existence on the fifth day.* Origen, with some 
of the Greek and Latin fathers, believed they were created 
before the formation of the world, and which sentiment they 
think derives some countenance from that passage of Job : 
Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the 
earth ?" 

Platof considered the angels as the first born and first 
fruits of God's creation ; upon the hypothesis that spiritual 
beings preceded, in priority of existence, corporeal bodies, 
and that the Great Parent employed them as ministers for 
the procreation of others. Aristotle maintains a similar 
opinion, speaking of them as the original movers of the uni- 
verse ; holding, also, the notion that the heavens were eter- 
nal, together with all empyreal souls and intelligent sub- 
stances. 

The supposition has likewise been favored by some modern 
divines, that angelic beings were created a long period antece- 

* But to determine the day and year of this time (creation of angels) is 
not only convincible and statute madness, but also manifest impiety. — Sir 
Thomas Browne. 

t Pythagoras used to entertain his disciples with stating the various genera- 
tions and transmigrations his soul had undergone before it entered his body, 
borrowing his notion of its preexistence from the east, and its gradual descent 
into this dark and material world from that region of spirits and light which 
it is supposed to have once inhabited, and to which, after a long lapse of 
purification, it will return. This belief, under various symbolical forms, may 
be easily traced in almost all the oriental theogonies. 

3* 



50 



HISTORY AND NATURE. 



dent to the formation of our earth,— a series of ages before the 
construction of the solar system ; but at what era in the mys- 
terious revolutions and immeasurable cycles of eternity, Di- 
vine Revelation has not disclosed ; suggesting the idea that 
the Supreme Being of infinite power, wisdom, and benevo- 
lence, would not have remained inactive during this incompre- 
hensible interval of illimitable space, leaving so vast and 
inert a vacuum in the immeasurable regions of his boundless 
kingdom, to be unoccupied by intelligent creatures, as in- 
consistent with the operations and character of the omnipo- 
tent Creator, and as tending to reflect discredit upon the 
unimpeachable and living oracles of God. 

Modern, like ancient Sadducism, impiously denies the 
reality of the existence of angels, arising, forsooth, from the 
invisibility of their intangibile nature ; a negative which, 
upon this absurd hypothesis, is likewise applicable with aw- 
ful temerity, to the irrefragable truth of the very existence 
of the Deity, whose ubiquity we cannot apprehend, either 
by our visual organs or mental faculties ; whilst the demon- 
strative refutation of St. Paul declares : That the invisible 
things of him from the creation of the world are clearly 
seen, being understood by those things that are made, even 
his eternal po ice r and Godhead ; so that they are without 
excuse. The pointed reproof of our Saviour — -in addition 
to his other declarations, — -to the affrighted and disbelieving 
disciples, confirms the same position, a spirit Jias not flesh 
and bones as ye see me have. The belief of their existence, 
however, has prevailed from the earliest period of mankind, 
conveyed through the medium of traditions which have long 
been corrupted alike by Jewish Rabbies and learned pagans, 
The imaginary beings which human fancy has offered to our 
notice, have been but the superior representations of our 
race under the name of Genii, Demons, Dii, or gods of the 



HISTORY AND NATURE. 



51 



ancient eastern sages, down to the Fairies, Sylphs and 
Elves of modern credulity ; invested by a disordered and 
impure imagination, with corresponding powers and attri- 
butes, dispositions and demeanor ; in striking contrast to the 
essential particulars, extraordinary faculties, and preemi- 
nent attributes which adorn and constitute those transcen- 
clently pure, benevolent, illustrious and celestial beings de- 
scribed, in the sacred volume, as the constant attendants 
and commissioned ambassadors, and selected agents ap- 
pointed to execute the gracious and punitive purposes of 
Omnipotence upon the throne of universal empire. 

The positive existence, the ready attendance, and pro- 
tective guardianship of angelical intelligences was frequently 
alluded to, by the Messiah, during the humiliation of his 
terrestrial sojourn, as well as corroborated by the declara- 
tions and visions of the apostles and St. John the Revela- 
tor. The Old and New Testament abound with references 
to the visible appearances and actual interpositions of angels. 
It was a cherub, armed with a flaming sword, that was sta- 
tioned as a guard at the entrance of the terrestrial paradise — • 
angels appeared to Abraham, in his tent — to Lot, and fore- 
warned him of the impending destruction of Sodom and Go- 
morrah, those guilty and devoted cities of the plain — it was 
an angel that pointed out to the disconsolate Hagar, the 
spring of water, to relieve the extremity of her thirst — they 
were angels that ascended and descended on the mystic lad- 
der for the encouragement of the patriarch Jacob — it was an 
angel which opposed Balaam, in his wicked career and ava- 
ricious project, threatening to slay his she-ass which found 
a rebuking tongue to resent the prophet's cruelty — the arch- 
angel Gabriel visited Daniel, in Babylon, appeared to Zech- 
ariah, the father of John the Baptist, the forerunner of the 
Redeemer of the world, and also announced to Mary, the 



52 



HISTORY AXD InATTBE. 



consecrated virgin-mother, the birth of the long expected 
Messiah, as well as his nativity to the shepherds, who were 
peacefully attending their flocks — and also probably pointed 
out the phenomenon of a particular star, which directed the 
Magi to the manger which cradled the infant Christ, at 
Bethlehem — it was an angel that warned Joseph, in a dream, 
to retire, with the holy family, into Egypt, and escape the 
barbarous stratagem of Herod — they were angels who at- 
tended upon our Saviour after his temptation in the wilder- 
ness ; and an angel descended from heaven to administer to 
his agony in the sorrowful garden of Olives ; and after his 
resurrection, angels appeared to the holy women who came to 
the consecrated tomb to embalm his body — angels were seen 
by the apostles after the Resurrection of the ascended Sa- 
viour — the angel of the Lord delivered the apostles from their 
prisons — the law was given to Moses by the ministration of 
angels ; but without extending the enumeration, evidential 
of their real existence and diverse operations as revealed in 
the Scriptures, we will only add, that the belief of this at- 
tractive doctrine has obtained amongst the Mahometans, 
Greeks, Romans, and other nations of the earth, — under 
every imaginable, form, use, and worship, in strict corre- 
spondence with the respective systems of their senseless 
idolatry, the theories of their pseudo-philosophy, and the de- 
lusions of their debasing superstitions. 

We have now reached a point in our reflections, from 
which we shall not deem it expedient to venture into the im- 
aginative and hazardous regions of abstract speculations, and 
which has provoked the curiosity, taxed the ingenuity, and 
exercised the girded efforts of the loftiest intellects, whether 
in the character of the philosopher, the metaphysician, the 
moralist, or the theologian ; and therefore, it behooves us to 
observe the utmost Christian circumspection while treating 



HISTORY AXD NATURE. 



53 



of the supposed constitution of angelical natures, in refer- 
ence either to the immateriality or corporeity of their sub- 
sistence, the mode of their intercourse with, or those vehicles 
of communication in which they have appeared to the apos- 
tate inhabitants of this sublunary planet, lest in the daring 
excursion beyond the precincts of biblical ethics and Scrip- 
tural information, we incur the analogical penalty of that 
reiterated interdict which guarded the sanctified Mount, 
upon the delivery and enactment of the Decalogue, from the 
unhallowed gaze and forbidden intrusion of the children of 
Israel, as it trembled amidst the thunder and lightnings, 
the smoking cloud and reverberating voice of the trumpet 
waxing louder and louder, increasing the terrific solemnity 
of the distant and august scenery which glorified the sacred 
and awful summit of Sinai ! 

A very brief survey, then, of the opinions which have 
been entertained on this difficult subject will be sufficient ; 
as any ineffective attempt at critical inquiries on so ab- 
struse a matter would be alike vain, dissatisfactory and un- 
profitable. 

The ancient philosophers, including the peripatetics of the 
Grecian schools, considered that angels or demons (for these 
appellatives were employed synonymously) were composed 
of two qualities, corporeal and incorporeal, corresponding to 
the body and soul of man ; the only difference being, that 
the souls of angels never descended into such gross and ter- 
restrial bodies as the human, and are invariably invested 
with aerial or fiery substances ; classifying their genii into 
demons ) angels and heroes ^ of which distinction, those were 
esteemed angels whose appropriate sphere was placed nearest 
to the heavens : others, giving them also, a double substance — 
igneous and ethereal — slightly varying in their representa- 
tions, viz., that by their empyreal essence they were enabled 



51 



HISTORY AND KATtTRB* 



to contemplate God, but by their material element they be- 
came visible to men. 

The fathers of the church supposed angels to be possessed 
of subtle, ethereal, and aerial bodies, making this difference 
between good and evil angels, to wit, the former being 
clothed with a radiant splendor, and the latter with a dark 
fuliginous obscurity — the good angels being constituted of 
transcendently refined substances which always accompanied 
their development to mortal vision, and which they believe 
was only the phlogistic or ethereal essence belonging to their 
nature.* 

The specific nature of angels, whether pure spirits di- 
vested of all corporeal vehicles, has been a controversy of 
long standing, not only among the ancient philosophers, but 
of the Christian fathers ; whilst Divine Revelation has main- 
tained an admonitory silence upon this mysterious theme of 
human investigation. The nature of angels is expressed in 
the Scriptures by the epithet " spirit." They are of a 
spiritual nature, not compounded of parts as bodies are, 

* Angelical bodies send forth rays and splendors such as would dazzle 
mortar eyes, and cannot be borne by them ; but the demoniac body, though 
it seemeth to have been such once (from Isaias calling him, that fell from 
heaven, Lucifer ). yet it is now dark and obscure, foul and squalid, and 
grievous to behold, it being deprived of its cognate light and beauty. 
Again, the angelical body is so devoid of gross matter that it can pass through 
any solid tiling, it being indeed more impassible than the sunbeams < for 
though these can permeate pellucid bodies, yet are they hindered by earthy 
and opaque substances by which they are refracted ; whereas the angelical 
body is such, as that there is nothing that can resist or exclude it. — Cud- 
worth, Intellectual System. 

The angels are not subject to any change, saith St. Bazil, for amongst 
them there is neither child, young man nor old 5 but in the same state in 
which they were created in the beginning, in that they everlastingly re- 
main ; the substance of their proper nature being permanent in simplicity 
and immutability. By nature angels were created mutable, but by contem 
plation immutable. — Hetwood, Hierarchic, 



HISTORY AND NATURE. 



55 



and yet they are not simple and uncompoimcled as God is, 
who is a spirit. 

To the human mind it is difficult to entertain a proper per- 
ception of a spirit. Even in our endeavors to impart our in- 
dividual and inadequate conceptions of the varied operations 
of Deity, vre are confined to the imperfect medium of an- 
thropological expressions ; whilst the apostle Paul, in his 
striking illustrations of the doctrine of the resurrection, 
drawn from the analogies of the material world, makes the 
distinction of terrestrial and celestial bodies : — There is a 
natural body and there is a spiritual body. u From angels 
being called spirits, it is not necessary to conclude that they 
have no body, nor material frame at all ; to be entirely im- 
material, is probably peculiar to the Father of spirits, to 
whom we c?omot attribute a body without impiety, and in- 
volving ourselves in absurdities. When the term spirit is 
employed to denote the angelical nature, it is most natural 
to take it in a lower sense, to denote their exemption from 
those gross and earthly bodies which the inhabitants of this 
world possess. Their bodies are spiritual bodies, "for 
there is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body the 
latter of which the righteous are to receive at the resurrec- 
tion, who are to be made equal to the angels. 

" Whether there is in the universe any being purely spirit- 
ual, and perfectly detached from matter, except the Great 
Supreme, is a question, perhaps, not easy to solve, nor is 
the solution of it at all essential to our present inquiry. 
' God is a spirit , ? and we cannot conceive of any portion or 
modification of matter, as entering into his essence without 
being betrayed into contradiction and absurdity. In regard 
to every other class of being, it is conjectured, that the 
thinking principle is united to some corporeal vehicle through 
which it derives its perceptions, and by which it operates ; 



56 



HISTORY AHD NATURE. 



•while perfect spirituality., utterly separate from matter in 
any possible state, is the exclusive attribute of the Deity* 
When angels are spoken of as spirits, this mode of expres- 
sion may possibly denote no more, than that the material 
vehicle with which they are united, is of a nature highly 
subtle and refined, at a great remove from flesh and blood 
which compose the bodily frame. Who will presume to set 
limits to creative power in the organization of matter, or af- 
firm that it is not, in the hand of its Author, susceptible of 
a refinement w T hich shall completely exclude it from the 
notice of the senses ? He who compares the subtlety and 
velocity of light with grosser substances, which are found in 
the material system, will be reluctant to assign any bounds 
to the possible modification of matter, much more affirm 
there can be none beyond the comprehension of our cor- 
poreal organs. 55 # 

But if in physics there are unfathomable depths, is it not 
reasonable to expect that in the obscure regions of ontological 
investigations — in that science particularly conversant with 
God and spiritual essences, that w r e shall be stopped, at al- 
most every step, by phenomena beyond our comprehension ? 
" It is childish, 55 remarks John Foster, " to babble about 
the " impossibilities of religion, 55 until w T e understand the 
entire scheme of the intellectual and physical world — until 
we can explain who we are, whence we are, and w 7 herefore 
we are. Until w T e know what laws govern the elements, 
mould them into sentient forms, and again after a season, 
dissolve those warm and beautiful structures, and give their 
dust to the wind. Until we can decide the nature of that 
mysterious principle which we term life, discover how in some 
it becomes a fountain of motion, in others, of passion, intel- 
lectuality, and all those marvellous phenomena which we ob- 

* Robert Hall. 



HISTORY AXD XATUEE. 



57 



serve in ourselves and others. Until vre can determine in 
what consists the invisible chain vre denominate affection , 
that binds us not only to the living but to the dead, to forms 
long passed away, to minds translated beyond the stars, and 
the utmost bourne of the visible creation. Until then, let 
us be humble, nor mutter even in the secrecy of our hearts ; 
considering how very imperfectly we comprehend even our 
present existence, notwithstanding our experience of, and 
intimacy with it. Diminutive as we are, we nevertheless 
involve a world of mystery.* The acutest, the profoundest 
investigations have been baffled. What is life ? How con- 
tinued ? and if we had the means of pursuing the inquiry 
into our future state, it may be presumed, that every mys- 
tery would be aggravated. It is true that the ' Great Re- 
vealer of secrets • could have told us by revelation some 
things respecting the future state which we might in some 
superficial general manner have understood. For example : 
whether the disembodied spirit will have a material vehicle ? 
whether there will be a distinct formal process of judgment 
on it at death ] In what place it shall dwell till the resur- 

* There is surely a piece of divinity in us. something that was before 
the elements, and owes no homage to the sun. Xature tells me that I am 
an image of God. as well as the Scriptures. He that understands not that 
much, hath not his introduction, his first lesson, and yet is to begin the 
alphabet of man. — Sir Thomas Browne. 

3Ian has the whole world in counterpoint to hm, but he contains an en- 
tire world within himself Now, for the first at the apex of the living 
pyramid, it is man and nature ; but man himself is a syllepsis, a compendi- 
um of nature' — the Microcosm. In man, the centripetal and individualizing 
tendency of all nature is itself concentred and individualized — he is a revela- 
tion of nature.— S. T. Coleridge, Theory of Life. 

All souls existed from the beginning in the divine soul : all individuality 
which is. has been, or will be. had its pre-existence in creative being. — 
Slack, Ministry of the Beautiful. 



58 



HISTORY AXD NATURE. 



rection ? Whether it will, during that interval, be ap- 
prised of the transactions on earth ? Whether it will have 
sensible intimate communications with superior spirits % 
Whether it will have a clearer, vaster manifestation of the 
grand scene of the creation 1 Whether it will have a lu- 
minous foresight of what it will become at the resurrection 1 
..When, and of what kind will be the local habitation of the 
hereafter ? Of what the employments will chiefly consist ?" 

Such overwhelming realities — such grand and incompre- 
hensible probabilities, so mysteriously veiled, are calculated 
to attract, whilst they confound and elude the scrutiny of 
the severest investigations of scientific and metaphysical re- 
search, — as they stand aloof, like the mystic and awful recess 
in the innermost pavilion of the Jewish temple ! Yet, is not 
the moral intention of Divine wisdom and grace sufficiently 
apparent, in that concealment with which God has been 
pleased to screen, from the intrusion of mortal presumption, 
the imbecility and limitation of human faculties, of a fuller 
knowledge of the mysteries of the organic world, the specific 
nature of angelical beings, the inscrutable decrees of al- 
mighty purpose and sovereign grace, and the inconceivable 
wonders of the future state, that in our present sinful and 
spiritual condition, attended with the religious responsibil- 
ities of this probationary scene of existence, Faith should 
unceasingly operate as the active principle upon the stimu- 
lating anticipations of our hopes, the devout aspirations of 
our hearts, and the practical demeanor of our lives ? This 
obvious appointment of faith, to be an actuating principle, 
upon the interior thoughts and outward actions, is partly, 
because it cannot be otherwise, and partly, because to be 
governed by the inspired declaration and revealed will of 
Jehovah, constitute the vital and energetic essence of all 



HISTORY AND NATURE. 



59 



those obligations binding upon his intelligent and amenable 
creatures. 

The conjecture that angels — these pure intelligences and 
transcendently dignified spirits, assume corporeal forms, 
only on particular occasions, which, as soon as they are ful- 
filled, they throw off the transient medium which they re- 
quired — the vehicle of their visibility returning to the source 
from whence it originated ; Dr. Dick, in his Philosophy 
and Theory of a Future State, pronounces " a mere assump- 
tion, destitute of any rational or spiritual argument to sub- 
stantiate the truth. There is no passage of Scripture, with 
which I am acquainted, 55 he remarks, " that makes such 
an assertion. 55 The passage in Psalm civ. 4, " Who 
maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flaming fire/ 5 
has been frequently quoted for this purpose, but it has no 
reference to any opinion that may be formed on this point. 
Although the passage were considered as referring to angels, 
it would not prove that they were immaterial substances, 
for, while they are designated spirits, which is equally ap- 
plicable to men, as well as to angels — they are also said to 
be a "flaming fire, 55 which is $ material substance. This 
passage seems to have no particular reference to either 
opinion ; but if considered as expressing the attributes of 
angels, its plain meaning is, that they are endowed with 
wonderful activity — that they move with the swiftness of 
the winds, and operate with the force and energy of flaming 
fire ; or, in other words, that He, in whose service they are 
engaged, and who directs their movements, employs them 
with the strength of the winds and with the rapidity of 
lightning. In every instance in which angels have been 
sent on embassies to mankind, they have displayed sensible 
qualities. They exhibited a definite form, somewhat an- 
alagous to that of man, and color and splendor, which were 



60 



HISTORY &ST> STATURE. 



perceptible by the organ of vision — they emitted sounds, 
which struck the organs of hearing, — they produced the 
harmonies of music, and sang sublime sentiments which 
were uttered in articulate words — they were distinctly heard 
and recognized by the persons to whom they were sent — 
Luke ii. 14 — and they exerted their power over the sense of 
feeling ; for the angel who appeared to Peter in the prison, 
" smote him on the side, and raised him up." In these 
instances angels manifested themselves to men through the 
medium of the three principal senses, by which we recog- 
nize the properties of material objects ; and why, then, 
should we consider them as purely immaterial substances, 
having no connection with the visible universe 1 We have 
no knowledge of angels but from Revelation ; and all the 
descriptions it gives of these beings, leads us to conclude, 
that they are connected with the world of matter as well as 
of mind, and are furnished with organical vehicles, composed 
of some refined material substance suitable to their nature 
and employments. When Christ shall appear the second 
time, we are told, that he is to come, not only in the glory 
of his Father, but also in the " glory of his holy angels, 55 
who will minister unto him, and increase the splendor of his 
appearance. Now, the glory which the angels will display, 
must be visible, and, consequently, material ; otherwise, it 
would present no glory or lustre to their view. An assem- 
blage of purely spiritual beings, however numerous, and 
however exalted in point of intelligence, would be mere 
inanity, in a sense intended to exhibit a visible display of the 
Divine supremacy and grandeur. The vehicles, or bodies 
of angels, are, doubtless, of a much finer mould than the 
bodies of men ; but although they were at all times invisible 
through such organs of vision as we possess, it would form 
no proof that they were destitute of such corporeal frames. 



HISTORY AXD NATURE. 



61 



The air we breathe is a material substance, yet it is invis- 
ible ; and there are substances whose rarity is more than 
ten times greater than that of the air of our atmosphere. 
Hydrogen gas is more than twelve times lighter than com- 
mon atmospheric air. If, therefore, an organized body were 
framed of a material substance similar to air or hydrogen 
gas, it would in general be invisible ; but in certain circum- 
stances, might reflect the rays of light, and become visible, 
as certain of the lighter gaseous bodies are found to do. 
This is, in some measure, exemplified in the case of animal- 
cules^ whose bodies are imperceptible to the naked eye, and 
yet are regularly organized material substances, endowed with 
all the functions requisite for life, motion, and enjoyment. 55 
To whose striking suggestions may not inappropriately be 
added, the acute observations of a kindred philosopher and 
that original thinker, Sir Thomas Browne. " Intuitive 
perception in spiritual beings may, perhaps, hold some an- 
alogy unto vision, but yet how they see us or one another, 
what eyes, what light, or what perception is requisite unto 
their intuition, is yet dark unto our apprehension, — and even 
how they see God, or how unto our glorified eyes, the beau- 
tiful vision will be celebrated, another world must tell us, 
when our perceptions will be new, and we may hope to be- 
hold invisibles. 

" Again, desert not thy title to a divine particle and union 
with invisibles. Acquaint thyself with the choragium of the 
stars, and consider the vast expansion beyond them. Let 
intellectual tubes give thee a glance of things which visive 
organs reach not. Have a glimpse of incomprehensibilities, 
and thoughts of things which thought but tenderly touch. 
Lodge immaterialities in thy head, ascend unto invisibles, 
fill thy spirit with spirituals, with the mysteries of faith, 
the magnalities of religion, and thy life with the honor of 



62 



HISTOXY AND NATURE. 



God, without which, though giants in wealth and dignity, 
we are but dwarfs and pigmies in humanity, and may hold 
a pitiful rank in that triple division of mankind, heroes, 
men, and beasts. For though human souls are said to be 
equal, yet, is there no small inequality in their operations ; 
some maintain the allowable station of men, many are far 
below it ; and some have been so divine as to approach the 
apogeum of their natures, and to be in the very confinium 
of spirits." 

Leaving the obscure frontiers and uncertain boundaries 
of doubtful speculations, we gladly re-enter the clearer 
atmosphere and reascend to the brighter scenes and more 
brilliant prospects which belong to the ethereal region of a 
satisfying belief and the sublimer decisions of the meta- 
physics of a biblical faith — recalled and re-animated by the 
exciting expostulation of St. Paul's glorious interrogatory, 
realizing the promise of our hope, the foundation of our 
faith, the perfection of holiness, and the victory of Redemp- 
tion. Why should it be thought incredible with you, that 
God should raise the dead ? — or the thrilling and mag- 
nanimous challenge of the valiant warrior, the apostolic 
champion of the Mystic Cross. Where is the wise, 
where is the scribe, where is the disputer of this world ? 
Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world ? 
For after all that, in the wisdom of God, the world by 
wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness 
of preaching to save them that believe. 

Note. — V\ T e ought not to attempt to draw down or submit the mysteries of 
God to our reason, by contrariwise to raise and advance our reason to divine 
truth. — Lord Bacon, Advancement of Learning. 

Nothing contributes more to prove the spirituality of man, than the ex- 
alted delight which he is able to derive from the operations of his intellect 
or his fancy. — Kxox. Winter Evenings. 

By spiritualizing the corporeal works of God. there may -accrue to the 
pious soul uses far more valuable than they can afford the body. — Boyle. 



HISTORY AND NATURE. 



63 



The annexed particulars have been selected from Allen's 
Modern Judaism ; — a most entertaining and instructive 
work, displaying an elaborate and extensive research into 
rabbinical literature, and a familiar acquaintance with Jew- 
ish traditions ; — on account of the very extraordinary fic- 
tions, and representations and discrepancies which they em- 
brace respecting the creation, other circumstances and events 
of the angelical world. 

TRADITIONARY AND ANECDOTIC AL. 

" The rabbinical writings abound with traditions concerning 
angels. Of the time of their creation different accounts are 
given by different rabbies ; who have endeavored to support 
their respective statements bjj^ie citation of texts of Scripture, 
which they wish their readers to accept as decisive proofs of 
what they have taken upon themselves to affirm. To the ques- 
tion, ' When were the angels created V Eabbi Jochanan an- 
swered, 4 The angels were created on the second day ; this is 
what is written;' 'who layeth the beams of chambers in the 
waters ; who maketh the clouds his chariot ; who walketh upon 
the wings of the wind ; who maketh his angels spirits.' — Psalm 
civ. 3, 4. Eabbi Chanina said, c The angels were created on the 
fifth day ; this is what is found written.' fi And fowl that may 
fly about the earth ;' and, 4 with twain, he did fly.' — Gen. i. 20, 
Isaiah vi. 2. Rabbi Luliani maintains the orthodoxy of both 
these statements. 'They who follow the opinion of Rabbi 
Chanina, and those who adhere to that of Rabbi Jochanan, all 
agree that the angels were not created on the first day, that it 
might not be said Michael spread out the firmament in the 
south, Gabriel in the north, and the holy and blessed God in 
the middle ; but " I am the Lord that maketh all things, that 
stretcheth forth the heavens above, that spreadeth abroad the 
earth by myself." — Isaiah xxiv. 24. Rabbi Bechai harmonizes 
them. ' There are some angels w T ho continue forever, namely, 



64 



HISTORY AND NATUEE. 



those who were created on the second day : but others perish, 
according to the explanation of our rabbies of blessed memory, 
who say that the holy and the blessed God created daily a mul- 
titude of angels who sing an anthem to his praise and glory, 
and then perish • and they are those who were created on the 
fifth day.' Another rabbi contradicts them all. 4 Before the 
creation of the world, the blessed God created the shape of the 
holy angels, who were the beginning of all created beings, and 
were derived from a glance of his glory.' The description of 
Daniel, £ A fiery stream issued and came forth before him 
' thousand thousands minister unto him,' is supposed by Jaechi- 
ades to represent angels as emanations from the divine essence. 
He means to say, that they are of the very substance of that 
divine light which is of the same nature with the throne of 
glory ; and because they are supporters of the throne, which is 
flaming fire, that is, pure light ; though there can be no doubt, 
but that the light of the throne is a more transcendent light, be- 
cause it is with God, himself, and emanated from him the first 
of any ; whereas the angels were created afterwards, being se- 
raphs, and a stream of fire, that is, light drawn from the first 
light.' But this comment is at variance with the Talmud, which 
from the same text had extracted the doctrine of a daily creation 
of angels who immediately sing an anthem and then expire ; 
that standard of Jewish orthodoxy not confirming this produc- 
tion of celestial ephemera to one particular day, as Rabbi Be- 
chia does, but extending it to every day. £ Every day minis- 
tering angels are created out of the river Dinor or fiery stream, 
Daniel vii, 10, and they sing an anthem and cease to exist ; as 
it is written ; " They are new every morning ; great is thy 
faithfulness. Lam. iii. 23. One book of high authority asserts 
all angels to be short-lived creatures of a single day. " The 
emperor Adrian (let his bones be pounded) once asked Rabbi 
Joshua, the son of Chanina : you say that none of the multi- 
tude of angels above do praise God twice, but the holy and 
blessed God creates every day in heaven, a multitude of angels 



HISTORY AXD XATUKE. 



65 



who sing an anthem before him and then perish." And Rabbi 
Joshua answered him ; " yea, we do say so." Another repre- 
sents some angels as exempted from this fate. The holy and 
blessed God creates every day a multitude of angels, and they 
sing a hymn ; except Michael and Gabriel and the princes of 
the chariot and the Met rat on and Sandalphon, and their equals, 
who remain in their glory with which they were invested in the 
six days' creation of the world, and their names are never 
changed. After their hymn of praise the " ephemeral angels 
return again to the river Dinor, which is the place of their 
creation, and is derived from the sweat of those animals which 
are under the throne of glory, which sweat because they carry 
the throne of God." Some angels are said to be created from 
fire ; others from water ; others from wind ; but from the sixth 
verse of the thirty-third psalm, Rabbi Jonathan inferred that 
there is an angel created by every word that proceeds out of 
the mouth of God." Angels are described as differing greatly 
in magnitude and stature. The Talmud declares one angel to 
be taller than another by as many miles as a man would travel 
in a journey of five hundred years. One rabbi affirms, " that 
four classes of ministering angels sing praises in the presence of 
the holy and blessed Gocl. The first class, at the head of which 
is Michael, is on the right hand ; the second, under Gabriel, on 
the left ; the third, under Uriel, before him ; the fourth, under 
Raphael, behind him ; and the divine Majesty is in the midst, 
seated on a throne high and lifted up." The distance at which 
the angels stand from the divine Majesty, is pretended to be 
stated by the famous Rabbi Akiba, almost with the geometrical 
exactness of an actual admeasurement. High rabbinical author- 
ity affirms that angels were consulted respecting the creation of 
man ; that they divided into two parties, some strongly recom- 
mending his creation, and others loudly protesting against it ; 
that while they were in a fierce pursuit on the subject God made 
Adam without their knowledge, and then informed them that 
their contentions were useless, for that man was already created. 
4 



66 



HISTORY AST) NATURE. 



Whatever satisfaction or dissatisfaction was produced in the an- 
gelic council by this decision, it was, long after, arranged at the 
bar of rabbinical scrutiny, and judgment was formally pro- 
nounced against the Creator. The following anecdote of piety 
and sapience is recorded in the Talmud. "The wise men say 
that for a number of years the school of Shammai and the 
school of Hillel disputed amongst themselves ; some asserting 
that it would have been better if man had not been created ; 
others contending that it was better for man to have been 
created. The votes being at length collected and counted, the 
majority were of opinion that it would have been better if man 
had not been created; but that now since he had been created, 
it was his duty to lead a virtuous life. Another rabbinical au- 
thor asserts that the angels were previously consulted about 
the creation of the world. Among the Jews it is a received 
opinion, that the world was created on the first day of the month 
Tisri, and that on this day God sits in judgment on mankind ; 
when three books are opened, of the righteous who observe the 
precepts, of the middling, and presumptuously wicked. The 
righteous are instantly written to everlasting life, and the wick- 
ed assigned to the burning fire. Those whose works are equal, 
remain in a state of suspense till the day of atonement. If, 
however, they forsake their evil works, and manifest repentance, 
their portion, ultimately, will be with the righteous ; but if re- 
formation do not intervene, death will be their destination/' 

The following additional traditionary and anecdoticai 
statement of the diverse opinions and strange speculations 
which have been entertained by various writers, together 
with some curious particulars respecting the formation of 
the world, the creation and intercourse of angels, the first 
pair, the apostasy, Paradise, the nature of the soul, &c., 
may not be regarded as altogether uninteresting. 



Some have imagined that the angels were created at the 



HISTORY AND NATURE. 



67 



same time that Adam was made ; while others have again con- 
sidered the speculation as inconsistent or unworthy of belief 
from the supposition that sufficient time was not allowed for the 
obedience and probation of the angels in which to manifest their 
respective characters and moral dispositions. From the period 
of Adam's creation to the time of his fall, ten days were sup- 
posed to have transpired, which has undergone the following 
singular and descriptive calculation. Adam it appears was 
created on the sixth day, which was Saturday, the next being 
the Sabbath ; which no doubt he observed and sanctified by 
worship ; for, it is said, God ceased from his labor on that 
day and rested. On Monday, the animals were brought, in 
procession, by pairs, before him, to receive their appropriate 
names. On Tuesday, finding himself still companionless, God 
caused him to fall into a deep sleep, and took from his side the 
famous rib from which was produced the mother of mankind. 
Wednesday was occupied by Adam and Eve in forming one 
another's acquaintance, and selecting a suitable resting-place for 
the approaching night. Thursday was noted for the giving of 
the divine law expressing the conditions of life and death. On 
Friday they were shown the garden and trees of Paradise and 
instructed in what manner to dress and cultivate them. On 
Saturday they commenced their agreeable labors, unattended, 
however, by fatigue, indulging themselves in delightful conver- 
sation, in the examination and comparison of the beautiful ob- 
jects of Paradise, and from which originated all the social hap- 
piness of the globe. On the Sabbath, they rested. Adam, with 
his heaven-given bride, celebrated the second Sabbath of the 
creation, employing its sacred hours in recounting the history 
of their first thoughts, and complacent interviews with angelic 
spirits, referring to the power and wisdom and benevolence of 
their Maker, and other suitable acts of devotion and holy aspi- 
rations. On Monday, they again resumed their attention to the 
garden of Eden, ascertaining the different kinds of fruits most 
delicious to their taste, beguiling their occupation by their happy 



68 



HISTORY ANT) NATURE. 



conversation. Their language was imparted to them by Inspi- 
ration, and was the most comprehensive, eloquent and musical 
that could possibly salute the ears of immortals, resonant with the 
melody of heaven. On Tuesday, they became excursive in their 
imaginations, and desirous of knowing further respecting the 
extent and productions of Paradise, to wonder at its immensity, 
luxuriate in the profusion of its bounty, and look over its bat- 
tlements to the country beyond or beneath it. The first pair, 
now separated from one another in the extensive grounds of 
the garden of Eden, but with greeting smiles met one another, 
at every opening of the enchanting scenery through which they 
wandered. As inclination actuated our first parents, so they 
were attracted by the fascinating objects which surrounded them. 
A beautiful stream, which formed a cascade, that dashed its 
transparent waters over a ledge of diamonds, arrested the notice 
and charmed the ears of our primogenitor Adam. During this 
time, Eve had seen at a distance, on a mount, the most gorge- 
ous landscape of blushing roses, golden fruited trees, and lus- 
cious vines ; while thousands of birds of Paradise feather the 
fragrant air with their burnished wings, warbling ethereal songs in 
harmony with the iEolian zephyrs of the atmosphere. Enchant- 
ed with the beauty of the surrounding loveliness, unobserved 
and unsuspected by Adam, who remained in fixed admiration 
by the iridescent cascade of the head waters of the Euphrates, 
Eve stole away. Surprised by the sportive play of a glittering 
fish in the silvery stream, which had not passed before him on 
the day he had designated the animals, he looked around to 
communicate his joyful astonishment to his fair helpmate, but 
discovered she had strayed away from his side. Not doubting 
of soon finding her, he strolled gently down the stream, when 
passing by a delicious grove of oranges, he saw her afar, de- 
scending a grassy acclivity, having in her hands the very fruit 
of the forbidden tree, of which she soon prevailed upon him to 
eat ; 



HISTOET AJtt) NATURE. 



C9 



a Whose mortal taste 
Brought death into the world, and all our woe, 
With loss of Eden/' 

This disastrous event completed the tenth day, including the 
Saturday of his creation. 

The comparative extent of Eve's delinquency in proportion 
to Adam's guilt, has also exercised the elaborate ingenuity of 
the commentators, and they mostly agree that since she was not 
created when the prohibition was issued, she could not therefore 
have heard it, a conclusion confirmed by the inaccurate manner 
in which she reports it to the serpent ; her share in the crime of 
disobedience is consequently considerably lighter than Adam's. 
In corroboration of this view of the matter, it is asserted that 
the Deity addressed his reproaches to Adam, alone, for having 
partaken of the forbidden fruit ; whilst the gallantry of one an- 
notator upon the words " I will put enmity between thee and 
woman," affirms the proof, that the sex from that period, be- 
came enlisted into the service of heaven as the chief foe and ob- 
stacle, which the Spirit of Evil would have to contend with in 
his inroads on this world. 

''The fall of Adam by frail Eve entic'd, 
Was his own death, ours, and the death of Christ ; 
In whose backsliding may he apprehended 
Offenders three, three offences, three offended. 
The three offenders that mankind still grieve 
Were Satan, Adam, and our grandam Eve ; 
The three offences that sin first advanced 
Were malice, weakness, and blind ignorance ; 
The three offended to whom this was done, 
The Holy Spirit, Father, and the Son. 
Thus in the devilish Alcoran 'tis said 
God i' the beginning four things made, 
And those with his own hands : the first a pen, 
Which all things from the first to the last, both when 
And how they were created (writes at large :) 
The second thing he took into his charge 
Was the man Adam, and the self-same day 



70 



HISTORY AND NATURE. 



He fashioned him of parti-colored clay, 

And that's the reason (neither think it strange) 

That in men's faces there is still such change 

And contrariety in look and hair, 

Some black, some brown, some tawny and some fair ; 

The third a throne, his majesty to grace ; 

The fourth for souls a blessed resting place 

Called Paradise. 

As yet for instance, before man's creation, 
The earth had solid and a firm foundation, 
And was inhabited in time forepast, 
By devils first, then angels, Adam last." 

— Heywood, Hierarchie of Angells. 

Whether Eve was created in Paradise or not, has caused 
much controversy amongst the fathers and theologians. With 
respect to Adam, it is agreed, that he was created outside and 
put into Eden, to undergo the temptation which issued in his 
fall. Some of the commentators inquire with considerable 
warmth, why should woman, the ignoble creature of the two, be 
created inside ? To which query, others again reply, that it was 
but a fair tribute to her beauty and purity that it should be so, 
and that in compliment to her, if the scene of creation was 
not already Paradise, on that event (her creation), it became 
so immediately. Josephus is amongst the number who believe 
she was made outside. The generality of the sentiments of the 
fathers upon this difficult subject is in favor of her being produ- 
ced inside Paradise. The Rabbies have made some strange ad- 
ditions to the Mosaic account of the fall. They assert that Eve 
perceiving, by certain indications, that in consequence of eating 
the forbidden fruit, she must certainly die, thereupon deter- 
mined that her husband should partake of the same, and amiably 
informed him that he must perish with her ; urging him to taste 
of the interdicted fruit. Meeting her solicitations with repeated 
refusals, she tore off a branch from the tree, and belabored him 
without mercy, until he was induced to comply with her re- 
quest ; saying, this was the accusation preferred by Adam in 
his reply to Jehovah, " The woman whom thou gavest to be 



HISTORY AND NATURE. 



71 



with me, she gave me of the tree (that is, according to rabbini- 
cal interpretation, she cudgeled me with a bough of the tree) 
and I did eat." Some divines count Adam thirty years old at 
his creation, because they suppose him created in the perfect 
age and stature of man. Adam is represented as having been 
created of such an enormous height that he reached from earth 
to heaven. When the ministering angels saw him, they trem- 
bled and feared. What did they do ? They all went up be- 
fore God in the upper habitation and said, ' Lord of the Uni- 
verse ! There are two powers in the world.' Then God laid 
his hand upon Adam's head and reduced him to a thousand cu- 
bits ; other rabbies affirm him to have been reduced to nine hun- 
dred cubits, — two hundred cubits — one hundred cubits in stature. 
They further mention, that in the hour in which God created 
the first man, he made a double person, male and female, with 
two faces, but joined them behind. That he afterwards cut 
asunder this two-fold person, thereby forming a man and a wo 
man ; and made a back for each. Xot satisfied with convert- 
ing Adam into a monster, the rabbies have degraded him into 
the similitude of an ape ; gravely asserting that the creator 
made him with a tail, resembling an ourang-outang (Lord Mon- 
boddo's theory) but afterwards cut it off to increase his beauty. 
The following serio-comico description is too curious to be omit- 
ted. Adam and Eve being buried in the cave of Machpelah, 
this altercation is said to have happened between them. About 
twelve hundred years after their death, when Abraham was 
preparing to bury Sarah in the double cave, they arose, feeling 
unwilling to remain there anv longer. Thev said, 4 We have 
always been ashamed and confounded before the blessed God 
on account of the sin we have committed, and you are come to 
increase our disgrace, for your good works overwhelm us.' 
Abraham answered : ' I promise that I will intercede with God 
for you, that you may not be confounded any more.' And so 
Adam returned to his place ; but Eve, by no means satisfied 
with this, would not re-enter ; whereupon Abraham, without 



72 



HISTORY AND NATURE. 



losing much time, carried her, with his own hands, to Adam, 
and buried Sarah and Eve together. The grotesque notion was 
also held by some of the rabbies, that angels have bodies, which 
if cut, with admirable skill, would soon come together again, 
like the property of vermicular substances. 

Amongst their ridiculous fables, the Rabbins mention as the 
descendants of Sammael, who was a fallen seraph, Adam and 
Eve. When the blessed God created the first man, whom he 
formed alone, without a companion, he said, £ It is not good that 
the man should be alone,' and therefore he created a woman and 
named her Lilith. They immediately began to contend with 
each other for superiority. The man said it behooves thee to 
be obedient, I am to rule over thee. The woman replied, we 
are on a perfect equality, for we were both formed out of the 
same earth. So neither would submit to the other. Lilith 
seeing this, uttered the Shem-hamp-horath, that is, pronounced 
the name of Jehovah, and instantly 8ew away through the air. 
Adam then addressed himself to God and said, 6 Lord of the 
Universe ! the woman whom thou gavest me has flown away 
from me.' God immediately dispatched three angels, Sennoi, 
Sansennoi, and Sammangeloph to bring back the fugitive. He 
said to them : If she consent to return, well ; but if not, you are 
to leave her, after declaring to her that a hundred of her chil- 
dren shall die every day. These angels then pursued her, and 
found her in the midst of the sea, in the mighty waters in which 
the Egyptians were to be afterwards destroyed. . They made 
known to her the divine message, but she refused to return, 
They threatened unless she would return to drown her in the 
sea. She then said, Let me go ; for I was created for no other 
purpose than to debilitate and destroy infants ; my power over 
the males will extend to eight days, and over the females to 
twenty days after their birth. On hearing this, the angels were 
proceeding to seize her, and carry her back to Adam by force, 
but Lilith swore by the name of the living God, that she would 
refrain from doing any injury to infants, whenever and wherever 



HISTORY AND NATURE. 



73 



she should find those angels or their names or their pictures, on 
parchment or paper, or on whatever else they might be written 
or drawn, and she consented to the punishment denounced 
against her by God, that a hundred of her children should die 
every day. Hence it is that every day witnesses the death of 
a hundred young demons of her progeny. And for this reason, 
we write the names of these angels on slips of paper or parch- 
ment, and bind them upon infants, that Lilith, on seeing them, 
may remember her oath, and may abstain from doing our in- 
fants any injury. Another rabbinical writer says, 1 I have also 
heard, that when the child laughs in its sleep in the night of the 
Sabbath or of the new moon, the Lilith laughs and toys with 
it, and that its proper father or mother, or any one that sees the 
infant laugh, to tap it on the nose and say, Hence, begone, cur- 
sed Lilith, for thy abode is not here, which should be said three 
times, and each repetition should be accompanied with a pat 
on the nose. This is of great benefit because it is in the power 
of Lilith to destroy children whenever she pleases.' 

Some of the ancient divines held the opinion, that the crea 
tion of the angels was concealed from Moses, lest any man 
should apprehend (like some heretics of old) that they aided 
and* assisted God in the formation of the world, when they only 
appeared as spectators ; lest they should be deified, and the 
honor due to the Creator be conferred upon the creature. 

The schoolmen placed Paradise in the east, because the 
east is the nobler quarter, the right hand being more noble 
than the left, and the east being on the right. The period dur- 
ing which our first parents enjoyed their state of innocence, is as 
much disputed as the site of Paradise. Some extend the period 
to one hundred years, others, contract it to three hours ; and a 
few, grant seven years. Cedrenus and Chrysostom place the 
fall on the evening of the day, in which Adam was created ; 
and there are others who assign to the Protoplasti (as our first 
parents have been named), as many years of paradisiacal beat- 



74 



HISTORY AND NATURE. 



itude, as were occupied by our Saviour's ministry on earth. 
The jesuit, Hardouin, places the terrestrial paradise in Pales- 
tine, intersected by the Jordan, and not far north from Enon, 
near Salim, in which John baptized. Different speculations 
have situated paradise in the third, fourth, or in the lunar 
heaven, in the moon itself, in a mountain near the lunar heaven, 
in the middle region of the air, without and above, and beneath 
the earth, in a place where the ken of man can never reach, 
under the arctic pole, in that spot of Tartary now occupied 
by the Caspian seas, in the extreme south, in a land of fire, in 
the east, on the banks of the Ganges, in Ceylon, in China, in an 
uninhabited place beyond the east, in America, in Africa, under 
the equator, above the mountains of the moon, from which the 
Nile is supposed to arise, in Armenia, in Mesopotamia, Assyria, 
Persia, in Babylonia, and in Arabia. The Gannath, or happy 
garden of the Mahommedans, is compared to Paradise, irrigated 
by rivers of incorruptible water, streams of milk, pleasant wine, 
and clarified honey ; containing flowing fountains, and abound- 
ing with all kinds of fruit, furnished with couches lined with 
embroidered silk, and covered with beautiful carpets interwoven 
with gold. Beauteous damsels, pure virgins with complexions 
like rubies and pearls, attended by youth with goblets of flow- 
ing wine. With the Mussulmen, it is a disputed question 
whether the future Paradise is already created or whether it 
will be created hereafter. The orthodox maintain that its local- 
ity is in the seventh heaven under the throne of God : that its 
soils consist of the finest wheat flour, or of the purest musk, or 
of saffron ; its stones are pearls, and jacinths ; the walls of its 
buildings are enriched with gold and silver, and the trunks of all 
its trees are of gold. The most remarkable tree in the palace 
of Mahommed is the Tuba, the tree of happiness, extending its 
boughs to the abode of every true believer. It affords grapes, 
dates, and pomegranates more luscious than ever regaled mor- 
tal palate, upon its twigs are ready dressed birds, silken mantles 
and horses with rich housings, all like fairy gifts in a panto- 



HISTORY AND NATURE. 



75 



mime, will burst from its opening fruits at a wish. The black- 
eyed damsels or Houris are formed of pure musk ; some of the 
pavilions in which they reside are sixty miles square. Eight 
gates will lead to Paradise, and the first entertainment of the 
blessed, will be the whole earth presented as a single cake of 
bread, the ox Balam and the fish Nun, the lobes of whose 
liver will suffice for seventy thousand men. The very meanest 
will have eighty thousand servants and seventy -two Houris, 
besides all the wives whom they married when living. When- 
ever he eats, three hundred attendants will serve his table, 
with three hundred golden dishes at once. Wine, not forbidden 
in Paradise, will be supplied in equal variety and abundance. 
Perpetual youth will be the portion of the glorified inhabitants, 
who, at whatever age they may die, will be raised with the 
power and vigor of a man of thirty, and their stature will be in- 
creased to equal that of Adam, who measured sixty cubits. 

Respecting the soul, the heathens supposed it was a corus- 
cation of the sphere or particle of the Deity, and had an ex- 
istence anterior to the foundation of the heavens. The modern 
Jews maintained the preexistence of the soul, considering it an 
emanation of the Deity, and eternal in its nature. 

The Chaldeans represented the soul as originally endowed with 
wings, which fall away when it shrinks from its native element, 
and must be produced before it can hope to return. Some dis- 
ciples of Zoroaster once inquired of him, " How the wings of the 
soul might be made to grow again." " By sprinkling them," he 
replied, " with the waters of life." " But where are those waters 
to be found ?" they asked. " In the garden of God," replied 
Zoroaster. 

The mythology of the Persians has allegorized the same 
doctrine in the history of those genii who strayed from their 
dwellings in the stars, and obscured their original nature by 
mixture with the material spheres ; while the Egyptians con- 
necting it with the ascent and descent of .the sun in the Zodiac, 



76 



HISTORY AST) NATURE. 



consider autumn as emblematical of the soul's decline toward 
darkness, and the reappearance of spring as its return to life 
and light. 

The Rabbinical fictions of the lores of Uzziel and the 
Sehamchazai, may represent the fall of the soul from its original 
purity, and the loss of light and happiness which it suffers in 
the pursuit of the world's perishable pleasure ; and the punish- 
ment both from conscience and divine justice with which im- 
purity, pride, and presumptuous inquiry into the awful secrets 
of nature are sure to be visited. 

The ancients fancied that impure souls, after their departure 
out of the body, wandered up and down, for a certain space, in 
their spirituous, vaporous, and airy body, appearing about 
sepulchres and haunting their former habitations. 

The Arabians held the opinion that the souls of men perished 
with their bodies, but should yet be raised again at the last 
day. 

It was forbidden by the Council of Iliberit, in the year 313, 
to kindle a candle in a burying ground, lest it should disturb 
the souls of the departed. And that the dead, whose bodies 
were not decently interred, could not enter the world of spirits, 
but would have to wander about on the earth, was the general 
belief in Homer's time. 

Origen supposed that God would not persist in his vengeance 
forever, but after a definite time of his wrath, he would release 
the damned soul from torture. He imagined it to exist . an- 
terior to the body, which as its earthly prison, would not rise 
again. 

Pythagoras entertained the opinion of a three-fold constitution 
of the soul. The stoics, however, repudiated the idea of triple 
souls, or a triad of the mind. 

The Rabbies divided the soul into three compartments— the 
seats of reason, — of appetite, — and of the passions. 

They also held the conceit, that there is a heaven or treasury 
of souls called Gelph, from which God furnishes children, be- 



HISTOKY AXD NATURE. 



fore their birth. On the sixth day of their existence, souls are 
described as having the honor of being consulted regarding 
their future incarnation into bodies. "When the Creator said, 
'Let us make man/ &c, he addressed the souls, and did not 
force them into the body, as a prison, without their consent. 
That in their original and glorious state, for centuries they en- 
joy the utmost happiness previously to their being embodied ; 
and might again realize the same felicity after death ; rendering 
the resurrection of the dead needless. The descent into and oc- 
cupation of the body, however, is represented as not always 
perfectly voluntary. Take the following specimen of the union of 
the spirit to the embryo body. God beckons to the angel who 
is set over spirits, and says to him, Pray send me such a spirit. 
Presently he appears before Jehovah, and worships in his pres- 
ence. Then says Jehovah to him : Betake thyself to this mat- 
ter. Instantly the spirit excuses himself and says unto him : 
Governor of the world, I am fully satisfied with the world in 
which I have existed from the day I was created ; if it please 
thee, do not oblige me to betake myself unto this putrid mat- 
ter, for I am holy and pure. J ehovah says unto him, The world 
into which I am going to send thee, is better than the world 
whence thou art ; besides, when I formed thee, I did not make 
thee but for tin's matter ; whereupon, God immediately coerces 
him, whether willing or unwilling, into the midst of the matter. 

The foregoing, and many other vagaries, even more extrava- 
gant, which might be adduced from Talmudical and Eabbinical 
writings, are taken, be it remembered, from books which the 
Jews hold more sacred than the Bible of the Old Testament ; 
and painful is the reflection, that such puerile fancies should 
still becloud the understandings, in connection with that awful 
delusion and disbelief which still paralyze the heart of Israel — 
once the peculiar and favorite people of Jehovah, to whom ap- 
pertained the law, the prophets and the covenants — and of whom 
as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, God blessed 
forever. — Romans ix. 5. 



RANKS AND TITLES, 



In the prosecution of our inquiries, under the second 
division of our delightful theme. we are not forbidden the 
appropriate and auxiliary application of the law or princi- 
ple of analogy, which we have previously employed : pro- 
vided we invade not the sacred jurisdiction, nor trespass 
beyond the permitted boundary of an evangelical Faith, — 
on whose awful Peniel of solemn mysteries, wrestling Rea- 
son, Jacob -like, oft adventures with her sublime truths, a 
determined encounter ; refusing to surrender, until the An- 
gel of the covenant, at the day-dreak of spiritual illumina- 
tion, touching the sinew of bold presumption, and checking 
the inquiry of vain curiosity, commands her to proceed on- 
wards, though with the halting step of human frailty, in the 
toilsome and troublous journey of mortality, having achieved, 
in the glorious contest^ the benediction and assurance of 
Divine aid and protection, as the victory of prevailing 
prayer. 

The interdict of Scripture is not suspended over the sup- 
position, that in the stupendous operations of Deity, a vast 
and boundless scale of beings exist, confirmed to the hal- 
lowed and modest inspection of Reason, as established by the 
developments and discoveries of science, and further sanc- 
tioned by the inspired declaration of apostolic authority, 
" That one star differcth from another star in glory 
whilst in the expanse of devout contemplation, wonders are 
presented exceeding the utmost ken of mortal faculties, and 



RANKS AND TITLES. 



79 



the still more astonishing and brighter perceptions of angelic 
intelligences — Canst thou by searching find out God ? 
Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection ! 

Any attempt, how ingenious soever or plausible, to fathom 
the amazing and awful machinery of the Divine Architect, 
beyond the precincts of Revelation, is not only vain and un- 
profitable, but obvious impiety ; and it is on this principle 
that we indignantly reject, notwithstanding his pretended 
illuminations, the absurd supernaturalism of the Sweden- 
borg theory of the intimate correspondency of terrestrial 
things, with the celestial economy ; as being in direct oppo- 
sition to the sacred averment of Inspiration, that Eye hath 
not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the 
heart of man, the things which God has prepared for 
them that love him, as a daring encroachment upon the 
invisible and resplendent domains of a genuine Faith. 

The subtle efforts, also, of another class of theorists, are 
equally objectionable, who would endeavor to reconcile the 
verities and mysteries of Christianity with the infidel notion 
of an eternal series ; so ably considered and refuted in the 
following observation, of one of the strongest intellects, 
since the days of the Royal Preacher, which has appeared 
in gladiatorial conflict upon the capacious arena, of the 
splendid amphitheatre of metaphysical controversy and ethi- 
cal science. 

Soame Jenyns, in his Free Inquiry, — and to whose the- 
ory corresponded that of Pope* and Lord Bolingbroke, — 

* £: See through this air, this ocean, and this earth, 
All matter quick, and bursting into birth ; 
Above, how high progressive life may go ! 
Around, how wide ! how deep extend below ! 
Vast chain of being ! which from God began 
Natures ethereal, human, angel, man, 



80 



EAXKS AJxD TITLES. 



broached the hypothesis, that there exists a vast and finely 
graduated chain of being, from Infinity to non-enity — from 
God to nothing ; and that to exclude a single link out of the 

Beast, bird, fish, insect— what our eye can see, 
IS'o glass can reach : from Infinite to thee, 
From thee to nothing. On superior powers 
"Were we to press, inferior might on ours ; 
Or in the full creation leaves a void, 
Where one step broken, the great scales, destroyed 
From nature's chain, whatever link you strike, 
Tenth, or tenth thousandth, breaks the chain alike/ 7 

Essay on Man, 

For there is in this universe a scale of creatures, rising not disorderly or 
in confusion, but with a comely method and proportion. Between creatures 
of mere existence and things of life, there is a large disproportion of nature ; 
between plants and animals and creatures of sense, a wider difference ; be- 
tween them and man a far greater; and if the proportion held between 
man and angels there should be yet greater.— Sir Thomas Browne, Re- 
ligio. 

Writers have not been wanting who enforce the doctrine of necessity with 
regard to ail the phenomena of nature, as concatenated in a chain of 
iron mechanism, and affirm that an unbroken chain of gradually advancing 
organization has been evolved from the crystal to the globule, and thence 
through the successive stages of the polypus, the mollusk, the insect, the 
fish, the reptile, the bird, and the beast, up to the monkey and man. But 
while, on the other hand, we avoid being led away by the dazzling gene- 
rality, or being offended with a wild speculation, reckless alike of inductive 
facts and of moral consequences, let us not reject a principle which, when 
viewed, in subservient relation to other principles, may prove to exist, and 
to have a place in the reality of things. — Harris. Pre- Adamite Earth. 

All the leading nations of the heathen world have fallen upon the belief 
of intermediate beings between man and the Great Supreme. The Dii 
Minores of the Latins and Greeks ; the multitude of inferior gods amongst 
the Egyptians : the Amshaspands and Izeds, and Defs of Zoroaster and the 
Persians: the innumerable subordinate deities of the Hindoos, as well as 
other nations, all substantiate the propensity of the human mind to inculcate 
the doctrine of the existence of an order of intermediate beings between 
man and the Supreme. 



EAXKS AXD TITLES. 



81 



concatenation would be destructive of the beauty and perfec- 
tion of the whole. Dr. Johnson, however, asserted in oppo- 
sition to this sentiment, " That this chain, from the very 
nature of things, must be incomplete at both ends — that 
between that which does, and that which does not exist, 
there must be an infinite difference, that chain, therefore, 
cannot be attached to nothing.''' The moralist further 
demonstrated, " That between the greatest of finite exist- 
ences, and the adorable Infinite, there must exist another 
illimitable void, — that between unlimitedness and the limit- 
ed, there must evidently appear an inevitable separation in 
nature and qualities, in relation to the existent and non- 
existent. He also asserted, that not only is it incomplete 
at both ends, but that we must view it as nearly incomplete, 
in many of its intermediate links, as well as at the terminal 
ones ; that it is already a broken chain, seeing that between 
its various classes of existence, myriads of intervening ex- 
istences might be produced by graduating more minutely 
what must necessarily be capable of infinite gradation ; and 
that to base an infidel theory on the imaginary completeness 
of what is positively incomplete, and the impossibility of a 
gap existing in what is already replete with vacuities, is 
just to base one absurdity upon another. 

u The scale of existence from Infinity to nothing cannot 
possibly have being. The highest being not infinite, must 
be at an infinite distance from Infinity. Cheyne, who, with 
the desire inherent in mathematicians, to reduce everything 
to mathematical images, considering all existences as a cone, 
and allowing the basis is at an infinite distance from the 
body, in this distance between finite and infinite, there 
will be room for an infinite series of indefinable existences. 

" Between the lowest positive existence and nothing, 
whenever we suppose actual existence to cease, is another 



82 



KANKS AND TITLES. 



chasm infinitely deep, where there is room, again, for endless 
orders of subordinate nature, continued forever and ever, 
and yet infinitely superior to non-existence. To these medi- 
tative excursions humanity is unequal. But we may inquire, 
not of our Maker, but of each other, since on the one side, 
creation, whenever it stops, must pause infinitely below In- 
finity, and on the other, infinitely above nothing, what ne- 
cessity there is, that it should proceed so far either way — 
that being, so high or so low, should ever have existed. 
We may interrogate, but can any created wisdom supply 
an adequate rejoinder !" 

Dr. Dick observes : " When we consider the variety of 
original forms and intellectual capacities wilich abound in 
our terrestrial systems, and that there is an infinite gap in 
the scale of being between the human mind and the Supreme 
Intelligence, it appears quite conformable to the magnificent 
harmony of the universe, and to the wisdom and beneficence 
of its Almighty Author, to suppose, there are beings within 
the range of his dominion as far superior to man in the 
comprehension and extent of mental and corporeal powers, 
as man is, in these respects, superior to the visible, despi- 
cable insect ; and that these beings, in point of number, may 
exceed all human calculation and comprehension. The idea 
is corroborated by several intimations contained in the re- 
cords of revelation, where we have presented to our view a 
class of intelligences, endowed with physical energies, power 
of rapid motion, and a grasp of intellect incomparably su- 
perior to those which are possessed by any of the beings 
which belong to our sublunary system. " 

Furthermore. In the scale wheresoever it begins or ends 
are infinite hiatus. At whatever distance we conceive the 
next order of being elevated above man, there is room for an 
intervenient order of beings between them ; and if for one, 



RANKS AND TITLES. 



83 



then an infinite concatenation of other orders, since every- 
thing that admits of more or less, and consequently all the 
parts of that which admit them, may be infinitely subdi- 
vided ; so that as far as we can judge, there may be room 
in the vacuity between any two steps of the scale, or be- 
tween any two points of the cone of being, for the infinite 
exertion of infinite power. 

A becoming apprehension of the glorious attributes and 
moral perfection of God inclines to the conviction that He 
would take pleasure in calling into existence beings bearing 
a nearer resemblance to the spirituality of the divine nature, 
and renders it, therefore, not improbable, that Jehovah 
would create more than one order of intelligent and holy 
beings to reflect the glories of the Godhead, and celebrate 
with the seraphic praises of eternity the infinite benevolence 
and wisdom, and holiness of the incomprehensible I AM. 
Upon this supposition several philosophic writers have sug- 
gested that the planets are inhabited by rational beings as 
harmonizing with the arrangements of creative power, visible 
in the uniformity and developments of the natural world ; 
and a similar inference has been drawn by theologians re- 
specting the multitude and rank and precedency of the 
glorious inhabitants of the heavenly state. 

The hypothesis is not without foundation, that a variety 
of orders prevail amongst the illustrious inhabitants of the 
celestial world, as consonant with the exhibitions and mani- 
festations of almighty design and purpose, illustrated by an 
appeal to the physical constitution of the material universe 
which connects the solar system with others of a similar na- 
ture, and these not improbably, with some still greater and 
more magnificent central system, around which they re- 
volve, and to which they are subordinate. "What, therefore, 
is true and applicable with respect to the physical universe 



8i 



RAXES AXD TITLES. 



by the parity of analogy, may be correct in reference to the 
great moral universe, in which Deity is represented as the 
central and all-influencing Sun. 

" It is highly probable, independent of Revelation, that 
there are many orders of beings superior to man. To sup- 
pose our own species to be the highest production of Divine 
power would indicate irrational and puerile presumption. 
When we consider the infinite variety of creatures presented 
to our notice in the descending scale between us and noth- 
ing, it is agreeable to analogy to conceive the number is not 
less of those which are above us ; the probability of which 
is enhanced by the discoveries now made of the extent of 
the universe, and of the existence of bodies compared to 
which the globe we inhabit is but a spot. While there are 
known to be material systems immensely superior in mag- 
nitude to that with which we are conversant, what should 
lead us to doubt that there are in the intellectual world be- 
ings possessing an equal mental superiority ? It surely will 
not be pretended that there are any properties discernible 
in man that mark him out as the most transcendent work- 
manship of the Deity, the masterpiece of almighty power ; 
or that there is any ground for supposing creative energy 
suspended its operations here, rather than at any other 
point in its progress. The distance between us and nothing 
is infinite, yet the interval is occupied and filled up with in- 
numerable orders of sensitive beings ; how improbable is it, 
then, that the distance between us and Deity, which is in- 
finite, is an empty void ! Were all the secrets of the ma- 
terial world laid open, and the whole structure of the human 
mind, with all the laws of thought, volition and emotion per- 
fectly developed and explained, we should not be a step 
nearer to a solution of the question, under present consider- 
ation ? nor at all more qualified to determine the number and 



RANKS AND TITLES. 



85 



orders of superior intelligences, or what station they occu- 
pied, or the faculties by which they are distinguished. " * 

Robert Hall, Personality of Satan. 

An order of angels is as consentaneous with the natural apprehension of 
our minds, as the orders of beings lower than man, are with the observations 
of our senses. — PfioF. Stuart, Bibliotheca Sacra. 

In the works of creation with which we are acquainted, we find a regu- 
lar gradation pervading the whole ; from the rudest specimen of brute 
matter, up to man, the lord and ruler of the lower world. Minerals, vege- 
tables, and animals rise regularly in dignity, one above the other ; the low- 
est species of these kingdoms of nature ascend, but little above the highest 
in that immediately beneath it ; and no where do we find wide transitions 
or gaps in the scale of existence. It can scarcely be believed, therefore, 
that the interval between man and the Supreme Being, which presents such 
a wide chasm, is totally unpeopled. It is more natural to suppose that the 
interval is filled up by numerous orders of intelligent creatures, to whom 
the blessing of existence has been imparted by the Creator, and who are, in 
a variety of ways, subservient to the accomplishment of the purposes of 
providence . — Idem. 

How natural does the thought seem which suggested its'elf to the pro- 
found mind of Cuvier, when indulging in a similar review of the wonders and 
analogies of nature. Has the last scene in the series arisen, or has Deity ex- 
pended his infinitude of resources and reached the ultimate state of progression 
at which perfection can arrive ? The philosopher hesitated, and then de- 
cided in the negative, for he was too intimately acquainted with the works 
of the omnipotent Creator to think of limiting his power ; and he could 
therefore anticipate a coming period in which man would have to resign his 
post of honor to some nobler and wiser creature — the monarch of a better 
and higher world. How well it is to be permitted to indulge in the expan- 
sion of Cuvier's thought, without sharing in the melancholy of Cuvier's 
feelings, — to be enabled to look forward to the coming of a new heaven and 
a new earth, not in horror, but in hope, — to be encouraged to believe in the 
system of unending progression, but to entertain no fear of the degradation 
or deposition of man ! The adorable Monarch of the future, with all his 
unsummed perfection, has already passed into the heavens, flesh of our flesh 
and bone of our bone, and Enoch and Elias are there with him — fit repre- 
sentatives of that dominant race, which no other race shall ever supplant or 
succeed, and to whose onward and upward march the deep echoes of -eter- 
nity shall never cease to respond. — Hugh Miller, Footprints of the Creator. 



S6 



RANKS AHD TITLES 



Attracted by the rich luxuriance, and inviting landscapes 
of the panoramic scenery of beautiful illustrations, brave 
thought, curious and speculative theories, by which the 
pleasing investigation of our sublime subject has been sur- 
rounded, we have been detained beyond our intention ; and 
proceed to show, so far as Revelation warrants, the pre- 
eminent dignity and exalted station which angelic beings 
sustain in the boundless empire of creation, irradiated in 
the dazzling glories of the reflected magnificence of the di- 
vine presence and the majestic display of Almighty wisdom 
and benevolence. 

From the various representations which are given in the 
sacred pages of Holy Writ, respecting these celestial beings, 
as bearing the character, and fulfilling their exalted destina- 
tion as attendants around the throne of the Most High, as 
the illustrious ambassadors of his will, and the appointed 
executioners of his purposes throughout the domains of uni- 
versal empire ; in connection with the transcendent attri- 
butes with which they are endowed, we cannot hesitate in 
determining, that they hold the highest rank and elevation 
in the scale of created intelligences. In the heavenly and 
supernatural visions vouchsafed to Isaiah, Ezekiel. Daniel, 
and St. John, they spoke of their overpowering resplen- 
dency, in the most exalted terms of inspired description, 
and with emotions of consternation and horror, indicative 
of their surprising grandeur. Mortal dialect fails to af- 
ford an adequate expression of their greatness and beauty, 
by allusions to earthly delineations and distinctions, describ- 
ing them as the top, flowers, and the masterpieces of creation, 
the cream of all intelligent excellency, the nobles and princes 
of the universe, the body-guard of Jehovah, and the cabinet 
council of the Great Supreme, — the miniatures of God. 
Even imagination, in her loftiest poetical strains, surrenders 



RAJSTKS AXD TITLES. 



87 



the attempt as presumptuous and vain ; whilst the differ- 
ent and numerous titles attributed to them in the Scrip- 
tures, will further establish the pre-erainency of their dis- 
tinction amongst spiritual existences. 

Seraphim* ; is the title applied, and in the Scriptures 
specified only, by Isaiah, in his overpowering vision re- 
corded in the sixth chapter of his prophecy, as denominating 
the highest order of the celestial hierarchy, and as their 
name indicates, from the Hebrew epithet, burners or burn- 
ing ones, " glowing with a pure and serene, intense and 
immortal flame of divine love ; returning, without ceasing, 
the light and warmth which they have received from the 
great central Sun of the universe ; reflecting with supreme 
beauty the image of that divine Luminary." In the en- 
tranced visions of the prophet Ezekiel, and St. John the 
Divine, the living creatures mentioned, if not precisely 
identical, present a most striking and very close resem- 
blance. As the symbolical figures in the Holy of Holies 
were called cherubim, from their proximity to the Divine 
Presence, so Isaiah appropriates to these glorious beings 
which he beheld in the spirit, the term of Seraphim, to de- 

* Dionysius makes the following arrangement in the precedency of 
angels : giving the first place to the angels of love, called Seraphim ; the 
second, to the angels of light, styled Cherubim : and to the third, in their re- 
spective rotation, as angels of knowledge, illumination, office and authority, 
under the terms, thrones, principalities, dominions, powers, virtues, &c. 

The Platonists divided angels into three classes. Supercelestes. which 
stand in the presence of Jehovah ; Celestes, who are appointed to govern the 
stars ; Subcelestes, commissioned to rule over kingdoms, cities, and particular 
persons. 

Cardinal Hugo, a famous divine of the twelfth century, distributes the 
heavenly angels into three classes or hierarchies, each of which he subdi- 
vides into three orders. In the highest are cherubim, seraphim, and thrones • 
in the middle class are dominions, principalities, and powers ; in the lowest 
are virtues, arch-angels and angels. § 



88 



EAXKS AXD TITLES. 



note their flaming, dazzling appearance ; the idea being 
naturally suggested by the splendid effulgence of the golden 
cherubs, when they reflected the glory of God in the taber- 
nacle of Israel ; and in which belief the Jewish commenta- 
tors agree : u This is Merc&vah, which is the name they 
give to EzekiePs vision of the living creatures and the 
wheels ; and this appears by the name Seraphim, which 
signifies burning. So EzekiePs living creatures are said to 
be like burning coals of fire." 

Dr. Owen regards the seraphim as a distinct order of 
angelic beings. The generally received opinion of the 
Jews maintain, that those visions of the glory of God granted 
to Isaiah and Ezekiel were the same, and that Ezekiel saw 
nothing but what Isaiah saw also ; .only they say, that 
Ezekiel saw the glory of God and his majesty, as a coun- 
tryman, who admires all the splendor of the court of a king ; 
Isaiah, as a courtier, who took notice only of the person of 
the king himself. Isaiah calling the glorious ministers of 
God, seraphim, from their nature compared to fire and 
light ; Ezekiel, cherubim, from their speed in the accom- 
plishment of their duties. Isaiah saw his vision as in the 
temple. " I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and 
lifted up, and his train filled the temple" Aben Ezra 
and Kimchi, suppose that he saw the throne of God in 
heaven, and only his train of glory descending into the tem- 
ple ; yet it is more probable that he saw the throne itself 
in the temple, his train spreading abroad to the filling of 
the whole house ; for the temple is called " The throne of 
his glory,'- Jer. xiv. 21; and, " A glorious high throne," 
chap. xvii. 12 ; that is, a throne high and lifted up, as in 
this place. Ezekiel saw his vision abroad in the open field, 
by the river Chebar ; chap. i. 8. Isaiah saw first the 
Lord himself, and then his glorious attendants. Ezekiel 



EAXXS AND TITLES. 



89 



saw first the chariot of his glory and then God above it. 
Isaiah's seraphims had six wings, with two thereof they 
covered their faces, which EzekiePs cherubim had not ; and 
that because Isaiah's vision represented Christ, referred to 
by the Evangelist John : These things said Esaias, when he 
saw his glory, and spake of him, involving the mystery of 
the calling of the Gentiles and the rejection of the Jews, 
and which the angels were not able to look into, — Eph. iii. 
9, 10 ; and were therefore said to cover their faces with 
their wings, as not being able to look into the depths of 
those mysteries ; but in EzekiePs vision, when they at- 
tended the will of God in the works of his providence, they 
looked upon them with open face."* 

* Amongst the directions of Jehovah given to Moses, he was commanded 
to make figures of cherubim of solid gold, with which to decorate the 
mercy-seat of the tabernacle. — Exodus xxv. 18-22. Solomon also, orna- 
mented the altar-piece of his magnificent temple, with immense figures of 
cherubim, — 2 Chron. iii. 13, 14. We have no account, that there was ever 
made any sculptured or pictorial representations of seraphim. Sir Robert 
Ker Porter, however, in his travels in the East, found in Persia an ancient 
relic, on one side of a square column at Mourg Aub, purporting some re- 
semblance ; but it was conjectured to have intended some superior spirit, pro- 
bably the tutelary genius of the country. It is supposed to have been about 
the age of Cyrus, the conqueror of Babylon, and to furnish the best, if not 
the only ancient representation of the seraphim of Scripture. The figure 
is of the human form, with the wings attached ; two of which fall to the 
feet, and two others rise above the head, which is covered with a symboli- 
cal mitre surrounded by horns.. The figure faces the temple, with uplifted 
hands and open, standing in a benedictive attitude. Sir Robert, remarks, 
" With the exception of the mitre, there is no thing I have seen or read of, 
which bears so strong a resemblance to the whole figure on the pillar as the 
ministering or guardian angels described under the name of cherubim, by the 
different writers in the Bible ; and if we are to ascribe these creations to Cyrus, 
how readily may he have found the models of his genii, either in the spoils of 
the temple of Jerusalem, which he saw among the treasures of Babylon, or 
from Jewish descriptions, in the very word of prophecy, which mentions 

5 



90 



RANKS AND TITLES. 



Though their name and title are not declared by the 
apostle John, it seems clear that the mysterious beings, who 
in vision were beheld by him when in exile in the isle of 
Patmos, were seraphim. His description corresponding to 
that of Isaiah's, " In the midst of the throne, and round 
about the throne, were four living creatures, full of eyes 
before and behind. And the four living creatures had 
each of them six wings about him ; and they were full of 
eyes within ; and they rest not day or night, saying, 
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, 
and is to come. — Rev. iv. 6-8. " The Lord sitting upon a 
throne," as in human form, is declared by the apostle to 
have been Christ in his glory. He alone has manifested 
the Godhead to men ; for, No man hath seen God at any 
time ; the only-begotten Son who is in the bosom of the 
Father, he hath declared him. — John i. 18. This august 
emblematical scene relates, therefore, to the pre-existent 
glory of the Son of God, as our Redeemer. 

The u throne high and lifted up," the Rev. Mr. Scott, in 
his Commentary, observes, " seems to have been the place 
of the mercy-seat, over which the glory of the Lord used 
to appear, and where he reigned as the God of Israel 
over the whole earth ; and as an exterior symbol of his 
majesty," his train or the skirts of his robes filled the whole 
temple. " Above," or rather over against, this throne 
stood the seraphim, the burning ones, the most glorious of 

him "by name, and which doubtless would be in the possession of Daniel, and 
open to the eye of the monarch, to whom it so immediately referred. 77 

In Sweden, about the year ] 334, there was a military order instituted with 
the title of Seraphim ; but dormant from the period of the Reformation until 
1748. It derived its name from the golden fringes, embroidered with cheru- 
bim, whereof the collars of the order were composed. The number of 
knights, besides the king, and members of the royal family,- being limited 
to twenty-four. 



BANKS AND TITLES. 



91 



the angelic order. They stood as employed in celebrating 
his praises, and preparing to execute his mandates. Each 
of them had six wings ; " with twain he covered his face ;" 
an emblem of his inability steadfastly to behold, or fully to 
comprehend, all the glory of the Lord, and of profound 
reverence and adoring awe. " With twain he covered his 
feet," denoting humility, as conscious that he and his ser- 
vices were unworthy the notice of the Lord, or even of the 
other seraphim in the presence of the Lord. u And with 
twain he did fly," representing their prompt celerity and 
alacrity in executing the will of God ; at the same time, they 
sang aloud, responsive to each other, " Holy, holy, holy, is 
the Lord of Hosts." This three-fold repetition has generally 
and justly been supposed to refer to the three Divine Persons 
in the Trinity, and to the holiness displayed in the great work 
of redemption.* For the seraphim seem to celebrate to 
the Lord's holy hatred of sin, as displayed both in the sal- 
vation of the gospel, and in the punishment of its opposers ; 
in which respect the whole earth, " as well as the heavens 
has been or will be filled with his glory. While this solemn 
hymn of praise was echoed from one to another of the 
angelic worshippers, the post or pillars of the porch of the 
temple shook at every response, and the whole house was 
filled with smoke, or thick darkness, as when it was dedi- 
cated by Solomon." — 1 Kings viii. 10-14. 

The Jews say that this treble ascription of praise refers 
to the three worlds, as if it were, Holy, is Jehovah in the 
world of spirits ; holy, in the middle world of the stars and 
other heavenly bodies ; and holy, upon earth which we in- 
habit. But leaving this fanciful interpretation, every 

* In glorious imitation of this solemn ascription of praise and homage by 
the angelic hosts, is said to have originated the practice of chanting or re- 
sponsive worship in the Protestant Episcopal service and communion. 



92 



BANKS AND TITLES. 



Christian will readily acknowledge that the mystery of the 
Trinity of the sacred persons in the adorable Godhead, is 
the evident mystery contained in this triple celebration of 
the glory and holiness of Jehovah. 

In the book of Numbers, xxi. 6, 8, the fiery serpents 
there mentioned are called seraphim, either from their 
color, or from their rage, or the effects of their venomous 
bite, which produced the most painful inflammation attended 
with insatiable thirst. Their luminous appearance, when 
flying, in the air, presented a shining form like fire ; and as 
beings of the highest order in the celestial hierarchy, are 
styled " angels of the presence," from Isaiah vi. 2, 6 ; 
the prominency which has been given to the serpent in 
ancient worship and idolatry is doubtless founded on their 
symbolical character. The brazen serpent raised by Moses 
in the wilderness, was typical of the expected Messiah, the 
Saviour of mankind, and so recognized by those of the 
Israelites whose faith realized the saving remedy for all sin in 
the redemption of Christ. For proof of which they adduce 
that passage in John iii. 14 : " And as Moses lifted up the 
serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be 
lifted up." Some writers having indulged the conceit that 
the brazen serpent exhibited the shape of the cross, formed 
by the appearance of its wings, which resembled, however, 
more those of the web-like texture of the bat, than the fea- 
thers of a bird. Some of the Christian fathers and early 
commentators, suggest the idea, that the success of the 
arch-fiend over Eve, in the temptation of the garden of 
Eden, was mainly attributable to his assumption of the 
similitude of this splendid and illustrious figure, which she 
had observed always attended the majesty and manifesta- 
tion of the divine glory or shechinah, mistaking the voice of 



RANKS AND TITLES. 



93 



the serpent which addressed her as one of the Sons of God. 
Istum fuisse serpentem cui Eva ut filio dei crediderat. 

Cherubim, is also another title by which the angels of 
God are designated ; its etymon being derived from the 
Hebrew, and signifies, fulness of knowledge. According to 
some expositors the term is taken from a Chaldaic word de- 
noting youth. Others, give it the meaning of swiftness of 
flight, as angels have usually appeared with the appendage 
of wings. Others, again, attribute to it the same root as 
Rabbi, a teacher, implying the extent of knowledge and 
vast intelligence possessed by angels, represented also by 
eyes in the mysterious and apocalyptic visions of Ezekiel 
and St. John. Full of eyes round about, and before, and 
behind, and within. 

The first mention of cherubim recorded in the Scripture, 
is in 3d chapter of Genesis and 24th verse, # from which 
we learn they were divinely appointed as sentinels to guard 
the approach to the garden of Eden immediately upon the 
disobedience and apostacy of our first parents. 

Respecting the history, the character, the nature and the 
design of the cherubim, much ingenuity has been exer- 
cised, learning expended, and an abundance of theological 
controversy and speculative explanations indulged. Those 
which Moses, by divine authority, was commanded to pre- 
pare and place at each end of the mercy-seat or propitia- 
tory, and which overshadowed the ark, with expanded 
wings, in the most holy place of the Jewish tabernacle, 

* The fiery flying serpent, whose body moving in the air resembled the 
vibration of a sword, like flaming fire, was appointed with the cherubim to 
guard the entrance of the garden of Eden. Cherubim and seraphim are fre- 
quently mentioned in Scripture as attendants upon the Divine Majesty or 
Shechinah ; which appeared here in great glory, at the passage into the gar- 
den of Paradise, as well as in aftertimes, at the door of the tabernacle of the 
congregation of Israel, to their great astonishment. — Patrick. 



94 



RA^KS AXT) TITLES. 



were very splendid figures, made of pure and solid, beaten 
and burnished gold. — Exodus xxv. 18, 19. The original 
import of their name, together with their form or shape, ex- 
cepting that they were alata animata, winged creatures, is 
not definitely ascertained. The opinion of Grotius, that 
they resembled the figure of a calf, or the supposition of 
Bochart and Spencer, that they partook more of the char- 
acter of the bull, than anything else, is as groundless as it 
is infelicitous.* Josephus states that they were extraor- 
dinary creatures, of a figure unknown to mankind. The 
opinions of critics founded upon the 10th verse of the 
1st chapter of Ezekiel were, that they were figures composed 
of various creatures, as a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle. 
But we are not furnished with any decided evidence that 
the figures placed in the Holy of Holies in the taberna- 
cle were of the same description as those symbolical rep- 
resentations which appeared, in a vision, to the prophet 
Ezekiel. The contrary rather seems to be indicated, inas- 
much as they looked down upon the mercy-seat, which is an 
attitude not well adapted for a four-faced animal, like the 

* All the multiform animals which appear in connection with Idolatry 
owe their origin to the cherubim ; being misrepresentations of the doctrines 
or mysteries retained in the legends of these '* overshadowers of the mercy- 
seat/' The satyrs, sphinxes, chimera, &c, which have been introduced and 
interwoven into every system of pagan idolatry, probably originated from 
the misunderstood remembrance of these Hebraic symbols. 

The cherubim mentioned by the sacred historian, were the sum and sub- 
stance of the second and patriarchal dispensation, as the Jews truly confess 
the ark with the mercy-seat and cherubim to have been the whole Leviti- 
cal service. There can be no doubt but these sacred emblems were care- 
fully preserved by Adam and his believing posterity to the times of Noah? 
and from him to Moses. — Parkhurst, Lexicon. 

The cherubim may be traced on the insignia of the armies of the Israel- 
ites. The standard of Reuben was the figure of a man ; Judah's-, that of a 
lion ; EphrairrrSj that of an ox ; and Dan's, that of an eagle. 



jRAXKS AXD TITLES. 



95 



emblematical cherubim which Ezekiel beheld. The cheru- 
bim of the sanctuary were two in number, one at each end 
of the mercy-seat, which, with the ark, was placed exactly 
in the middle, between the north and south sides of the 
tabernacle. It was here that atonement was made and God 
rendered propitious, by the high priest sprinkling the blood 
upon and before the mercy-seat. — Lev. xvi. 14, 15. Here 
the glory of God was manifested, and here, he met the high 
priest, and through him, maintained intercourse with his 
chosen people. — Exodus xxv. 22 ; Numb. vii. 89. From 
hence he gave forth his oracles ; whence the whole place 
was called debir, from the root debar, which signifies to 
speak, because God who dwelt between the cherubim, de- 
clared his mind from hence, when he was consulted, by the 
high priest, with urim and tkummin. These cherubim had 
feet whereon they stood, and which were joined in one con- 
tinued beaten work to the ends of the mercy-seat, covering 
the ark, so that they were entirely over and above it. 
Those in the tabernacle were wrought solid gold, but of 
small dimensions ; whilst those in the magnificent temple of 
Solomon were of great magnitude, fabricated from the wood 
of the olive tree, or tree of oil, overlaid with gold, and whose 
expanded wings extending the entire breadth of the oracle 
or altar piece, being twenty cubits broad. — 1 Kings vi. 
23-28 ; 2 Chron. iii. 10-13. 

They are also styled cherubim of glory, not from the 
beauty or excellency of the material of which they are com- 
posed, but from constituting a glorious symbol of the Divine 
Presence or Shechinah which rested between them. As 
this glory resided in the inner tabernacle, and as the figures 
of the cherubim represented the angels who surrounded the 
manifestation of the Divine Presence in the world above, 
that tabernacle was rendered a suitable emblem or image of 



96 



EAXKS A^sD TITLES. 



the court of heaven, in which light it is alluded to through- 
out St. Paul's epistle to the Hebrews.* 

The disciples of Mr. Hutchinson strenuously contended 
that the cherubim are emblematical representations of Je- 
hovah himself, or rather of the Trinity of persons in the 
Godhead, with man received into the divine essence. To 
which objections have been raised ; — that God being a pure 
spirit, without parts or passion, perfectly separate and re- 
mote from all matter, should require Moses to make material 

* The most generally received opinions respecting the cherubim are, 
either that they were hieroglyphics of the Trimly*, as they appear in the 
works of creation, providence, and redemption : or that they represent the 
character and office of the ministers of religion : or were descriptive of the 
general history of the church. The subject is intricate, but one leading idea 
runs through all the interpretations, namely, that they have evident refer- 
ence to the plan of redemption, for they are allowed to be descriptive either 
of its divine authors, its divinely commissioned human instruments, or its 
general history. — Wafc. Brown. 

Cherubim were introduced into the tabernacle and the temple, and ap- 
pear to have been considered as the emblems of the visible church. — Towx- 
sexd. Notes Old Test. 

The word translated flaming sword, imports a bright dame of waving fire. 
That this appearance was permanent at the gate of Paradise, and supposed 
to be the same glory which was manifested to Moses in the Burning Bush. 
Under the Levitical institution the cherubic symbols and the burning dame 
were united both in the tabernacle and the temple : the cherubim being con- 
sidered as emblems of the visible church, and the burning flame symbolical 
of the Divine Presence. The human form in Ezekiel's vision was a repre- 
sentation of the Angel- Jehovah : the head and protector of the visible 
church. From this Divine personage, out of the midst of the flame, be- 
tween the cherubim, the prophet received his commission ; and is the same 
mysterious and sacred Being who had appeared unto Adam. Abraham. Isaac, 
Jacob and Moses. Isaiah, Ezekiel, i; the school of the seers,'- under the Ju- 
daic, and prophetic economy as well as to the apostles, St. John, in the isle 
of Patmos, and the primitive saints, under the Christian dispensation, and 
who will descend to the Judgment, with the glory of heaven, surrounded by 
the resplendent train of attendant angels. 



RANKS AND TITLES. 



97 



and visible images of himself is highly improbable, and 
counter to the repeated interdictions to the Israelites, as 
well as the more direct prohibition enacted in the second 
command of the decalogue delivered from the summit of 
Mount Sinai, amidst thunder and lightnings, blackness, 
and tempest, and the awful voice of the trumpet waxing 
louder and louder, " Thou shalt not make unto thee any 
graven image, or likeness of anything that is in heaven 
above, or the earth beneath, or the waters under the 
earth."* Add to this, that in all places in Scripture where 
the cherubim are specified, God is expressly distinguished 
from them. The Lord placed at each end of the Garden 
cherubim, and a faming sword. He rode upon a cherub 
and did fly. He sitteth between the cherubim. The glory 
of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, where- 
upon he was to the threshold of the house. Then the 
glory of the Lord went up from the cherub, and stood over 
the threshold of the house ; and the house ivas filed with 
the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the 
Lord?s glory. And again, Then the glory of the Lord 

* Within the sanctuary of the temple at Jerusalem were the figures of 
the cherubim. These figures combined, in one body, a man, a bull, a 
lion, and an eagle, in which the form of the bull predominated. The calves 
which Jeroboam set up, were intended to represent these cherubim, and 
were either the entire figure of the cherubim, or in the shape of an ox or a 
calf, or perhaps, only having the head of a calf, in which case Jeroboam 
would merely have been guilty of schism and not idolatry. But he had no 
sooner set up the golden calves than he gave them the names of the Egyp- 
tian idols, declaring the cherubim to be the bulls Apis and ALneois, and pro- 
nounced them the deliverers of Israel from the thraldom of Egypt, requiring 
them to be received with similar rites, as those with which Jehovah was 
worshipped at Jerusalem. In this manner Jeroboam caused Israel to com- 
mit the heinous sin of idolatry. Hosea x. 5 : Styles the idols of Jeroboam 
"the calves of Beth-aven. ;? Aven was the same as the Egyptian deity Ann 
or On. Aven, Aun or On, was the sun, the same as Osiris. The worship 
of the calves, therefore, must have been, virtually, that of the sun. 

5* 



98 



BANKS AND TITLES. 



departed from the threshold of the house^ and stood over 
the cherubim. 

In all the foregoing passages the glory of the Lord, that 
is, the shekinah, the sublime symbol of his presence is care- 
fully distinguished from the cherubim ; without the slightest 
intimation being afforded, that they were images or em- 
blematical representations of the incomprehensible Jehovah. 
Mr. Parkhurst's elaborate attempt to sustain Mr. Hutchin- 
son's sentiments, involve contradiction, and are much too 
fanciful for the sobriety of Christian judgment to obtain a 
ready reception. 

In conformity with the opinions of many eminent divines, 
the cherubim are supposed to represent the angels that sur- 
rounded the Divine Presence in heaven ; and accordingly 
their faces were directed towards the mercy-seat where God 
was declared to dwell ; whose glory the angels in the taber- 
nacle of the upper sanctuary always behold, and upon which 
their eyes are continually fixed, as they are also on Christ, 
the true propitiatory, which mystery of Redemption, They 
desire to look into, and evidently signified by the cherubim 
being turned inward, and their eyes steadfastly fixed, in the 
attitude of inspection, on the mercy-seat. 

In EzekiePs vision, the cherubic figures are obviously 
connected with the dispensations of providence, and they 
have, therefore, appropriate forms emblematical of strength, 
wisdom, swiftness, and constancy, requisite for holy angels, 
as ministering spirits to execute the designs of God ; but in 
the sanctuary they are associated with the administration of 
the purposes of grace, and accordingly appear more properly 
in the representative character of adoring angels. 

Some commentators have agreed that zua, or the living 
ones (mistranslated " beasts/') are hieroglyphical represen- 
tations, not of the characteristics of angels, but those of 



KAJSTKS AND TITLES. 



99 



genuine Christians during the suffering and active periods 
of the Church of Christ. The first a lion, signifying their 
undaunted courage in undergoing the torture of martyrdom ; 
the second, a calf, indicative of unwearied patience and con- 
stant labor ; the third, having the face of a man, expressive 
of circumspection, prudence, and compassion ; the fourth, a 
flying eagle, to imply activity, penetration, and vigor — rep- 
resenting, likewise, the extensive ministration of angels, in 
whatever appertains to the providential events and circum- 
stances attending the progress of Christianity. 

The wheels which composed a part of the august machin- 
ery of EzekiePs vision, have been regarded as representing 
the throne of the Deity. The involution of the wheels inti- 
mate, their rolling every way, with the perfect freedom of 
locomotion, showing how well adapted were the forms of the 
cherubim for the service of conducting the throne — their 
faces turning every way. 

The eyes* in the wheels are significant of the dispensa- 
tions of Providence controlled by infinite wisdom ; and the 
glittering splendid hues or tints radiated from them, fitly 
represent the dazzling brightness of those illustrious and 
attendant spirits that encircle the divine majesty of Je- 
hovah. 

A modern divinef considers that u there is no foundation 
in the Scripture for the opinion that cherubim and seraphim 
are distinct orders of angels. The two names are merely 
distinctive of two attributes attaching to the same order of 

* It would not be far from the truth to say, that these eyes were of the 
nature of those we call eyes in the peacock's feathers, that is, they were 
spots peculiarly embellished with colors or streaks, like those of the golden 
pheasant of China. — Taylor. 

| Dr. Henderson. 



100 



RANKS AND TITLES. 



beings — their nearness to Jehovah, and the glorious efful- 
gence of their celestial nature." 

Dean Woodhouse, in his translation of the Apocalypse, 
pronounces with much confidence a similar opinion, stating 
that the description of living creatures in Rev. iv. 6, 
is improperly rendered, and which he proceeds to prove by 
a comparison "of several particulars ; and .that the living 
creatures of Saint John, are the same celestial intelligences 
•with those described by Isaiah and Ezekiel, showing by the 
resemblance of the description, that the seraphim of Isaiah 
and the cherubim of Ezekiel are reconciled in the similitude 
or character of the living creatures of St. John's apocalyp- 
tic vision, to wit : 1st. The number of living creatures 
is the same as described by the prophet ; but Ezekiel al- 
ready intimates the indistinctness of the vision, and the dif- 
ficulty of expressing by similitudes taken from earthly 
things ; for he says, " As it were the likeness of four living 
creatures." 

2. Here both writers concur in expressing this indistinct- 
ness. John says, " In the midst of the throne, and round 
about the throne," as if he could not fix the exact station 
of these heavenly attendants. Ezekiel says, u In the 
midst," and at the same time expresses the uncertainty of 
their position. 

3. The abundance of eyes is the same in both writers, 
though not described exactly in the same manner. From 
both, it appears that no part of these heavenly ministers are 
without eyes. The eyes, that wonderful part of animal* 
creation, the inlets of knowledge and intelligence, are in- 
numerable, and thus express infinite superiority of under- 
standing to anything which is earthly. 

In the vision of Ezekiel, the cherubim had. each four 
wings ; in that of Isaiah and Saint John, they have six. 



RANKS AND TITLES. 



101 



With reference to the propriety of the difference, Grotius 
remarks, that " the seraphim of Isaiah have twc more wings 
than the cherubim of Ezekiel, because they are represented 
as being more immediately in the presence of God; and 
therefore each of them is furnished with twain to cover his 
face before such transcendent brightness." Here, also, 
what was wanting in EzekiePs description is supplied by 
that of Isaiah. The seraphim sung the praises of God 
without intermission. 

After this comparison of concordant passages of Scrip- 
ture, we shall have little hesitation in determining the nature 
and species of these living creatures of the Apocalypse. 
They are the same with those in Isaiah and Ezekiel ; and 
Ezekiel has settled that point, by declaring expressly that 
they are cherubim^ and that he knew them to be cherubim. 
They are the highest order of angelic beings, attending 
nearly upon the throne, and speaking thence with the voice 
of thunder, which is the voice of God. They are so near to 
the throne, so intermingled with its dazzling splendor, that 
human faculties must fail in attaining any precise and ade- 
quate idea of them. 

Notwithstanding the confidence with which the Dean has 
supported his views regarding the identity of the living crea- 
tures seen by Ezekiel and those glorious spirits beheld in the 
vision of Isaiah, we leave them to the judgment of those who 
are conversant with the difficulties of reconciling the differ- 
ences of theological controversy, and submit his diatessaron 
accordingly. 

Withdrawing, from the turbid and agitated waters of po- 
lemical theology, how much serener, more delightful, consoli- 
tary and animating is the contemplation that these illus- 
trious, resplendent, benevolent and sympathizing spirits 
are ever active on our behalf, and constantly interpose for 



102 



RANKS AND TITLES. 



our welfare, in every temptation, trial, affliction, seasons of 
despondency, privation, and sorrow ; — softening to our over- 
powered spiritual apprehension, the insufferable glory and 
ineffable grandeur of the Divine Majesty,* by whom they 
are commissioned, with errands of mercy and grace, to car- 
ry forward the benignant purpose of almighty goodness, for- 
bearance and loving-kindness, comprehended in the great 
and wonderful mystery of Godliness — the Redemption.! 

* " A throne of pure and solid splendor framed, 
On which the Monarch of Immensity, 
With such intolerable brightness flamed, 
That none of all the purest standers-by 
Could, with cherubic or seraphic eyes, 
His vast irradiations comprise. 77 

Beaumont. 

Where the bright seraphim in burning row, 
Their loud uplifted trumpets blow, 
And the cherubic host in thousand choirs, 
Touch their immortal harps of golden wires. 

Milton. 

f " The helmed cherubim, 
And sworded seraphim, 
Are seen in glittering ranks with wings displayed, 
Harping in loud and solemn choir 
With inexpressive notes to heaven's born heir." 

Milton, The Nativity. 

" Yet far more faire be those bright cherubims, 
Which all with golden wings are over dight, 
And those eternal seraphims, 
Which from their faces dart out fierce light." 

Spenser. 

Perhaps when the Jewish nation shall be converted, and become believ- 
ers in Christ, there may be such new effusion of the Spirit on men, or such a 
happy discovery some way made of the darker parts of the Mosaic econo 
my, and the writings of the prophets, as may show us more of the resem- 
blance, which God designed between the type of the law in the temple and 
priesthood, and their antitypes in the gospel, than has ever yet appeared ; 



RANKS AND TITLES. 



103 



For the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them 
that fear him and delivereth them. The chariots of God 
are twenty thousand, even thousand of angels. 

In connection with the foregoing statement, it will be only- 
requisite that we briefly enumerate the other titles of dis- 
tinction by which the angelic Intelligences of the celestial 
hosts are designated in the sacred Scriptures. 

Archangel. — The specification of this title is no where 
to be found in the Old Testament, and only mentioned twice 
in the New, being applied only to one personage, under the 
name of Michael. In St. Jude, where it is mentioned, 
Michael is represented as contending with the arch-fiend re- 
specting the discovery of the body of Moses. # The other 

and, among other things, the form of a cherub, as an attendance of angelic 
beings on the Majesty of God, in the Holy of Holies, may appear more con- 
spicuously in its original truth and glory. — Dr. Watts. 

* From an obscure passage in the New Testament, in which Michael the 
archangel is said to have contended with the devil, about the body ol Moses 
(Jude 7) we may collect, that he was buried by the ministry of angels, 
near the scene of the idolatry of the Israelites ; but the spot was purposely 
concealed, lest his tomb might also be converted into an object of idolatrous 
worship among the Israelites, like the brazen serpent. Bethpeor lay in the 
lot of the Reubenites (Josh. xiii. 20). His death was announced by the 
Lord himself to Joshua, " Moses my servant is dead," (Josh. i. 2) • So that 
there was no human witness of his decease ; the account of which was pro- 
bably added by Joshua from revelation. — Dr. Hales. 

The same God, that by the hands of his angels carried up the soul of 
Moses to his glory, doth also, by the hands of his angels, convey his body 
down into the valley of Moab, to his sepulture. Those hands which had 
received the law from him, those eyes that had seen his presence, those 
lips which had conferred so often with him, that face that did so shine with 
the beams of his glory, may not be neglected when the soul is gone : He, 
that took charge of his birth and preservation in the reeds, takes charge of 
his carriage out of the world ; the care of God ceaseth not over his own, 
either in death, or after it. — Bp. Hall. 

Michael seems to be invested with a rank and power in the armies of 



104 



RANKS AND TITLES. 



instance in which it occurs is recorded in 1st Thessalonians 
iv. 16, where the term archangel is used in reference to the 
second advent of our Saviour at the last day, coming in his 
glory, and attended by the resplendent retinue of heaven ; 
respecting which Theoderet has this striking and solemn 
apothegm. " That if the sound of the trumpet, when the 
law was given from Mount Sinai, was so dreadful to the 
Jews, that they said unto Moses, Let not the Lord speak 
unto us j lest we die ; how terrible must be the sound of 
this trumpet (the archangel's) which will call all men to the 
final judgment." Whether in both these instances Jesus 
Christ may not be intended, is deserving of the consideration, 
and has attracted the notice of the biblical student. Bishop 
Horsley, besides other critics, confidently asserts, with much 
ability and ingenuity, that the reference in the passage in 
Jude is alone applicable to the Redeemer of mankind ; for 
the word archangel simply indicates a superiority of com- 
mand over the hierarchy of heaven. Some of the ancient 
writers, holding the singular conceit, that the rank over 
which Michael presides, is the eighth of the celestial or- 
ders, * affirming that Paul mentioned only a part of the 
heavenly choir, there being more of which he has not spoken. 
Others have imagined that the distinction of the title bears 
some allusion to the customs of oriental order observed in 
the courts of the Assyrian, Chaldean and Persian kings. 

heaven, to which that of Satan seems to correspond amongst the infernal 
crew of fallen angels. 

* The fathers entertained the opinion that the vacancies occasioned in the 
different orders of angels by the fall of Lucifer, were to be filled up from the 
human race. A council of the papacy backs the idea, that it was only the 
tenth order of the celestial Hierarchy that revolted and apostatized, and 
that, therefore, the promotions which occasionally take place are intended 
for the completion of that grade alone. 



RANKS AND TITLES. 



105 



Michael, the archangel, tells Daniel that he is one of the 
chief princes in the court of the Almighty. 

From the passages in the Bible which contain the name 
of Michael, he there appears, and is pointed out to our view 
as an angel of peculiar dignity and transcendent glory in 
the court of the Most High. Gabriel and Michael are the 
only proper names of angels recorded in the Holy Scrip- 
tures ; and it has been argued from this circumstance, that 
all the multitudes of the angelic hosts have their appropri- 
ate distinctive appellations ; and though to our finite com- 
prehension such a conjecture presents an extreme difficulty, 
yet, the God u who telleth the stars and calleth them all by 
their names , and whose understanding is infinite, may have 
the name of each particular angel registered in the apocalyp- 
tic book of immortality.* 

Some commentators suppose that those princes or angels, 
(Danl. x. 13,) who opposed Michael and Gabriel, were evil 
spirits, such as are described by St. Paul under the names 
of the rulers of the darkness of this world, having their 
residence in the lower regions of the air. — Ephes. ii. 2 ; vi. 
12. These evil spirits are sometimes represented as a 
part of the heavenly host, both in respect to their original 
station, and because they are the instruments of Provi- 
dence, and have a command over the inferior world, as far 
as God thinks fit to permit it. — (1 Kings xxii. 19 ; Job 
i. 6. They are likewise represented as accusers of good 
men before God, and as aggravating their faults, in order 
to have them delivered over to them, as the executioners of 
God's judgments, (Job i. 11 ; ii. 5 ; Rev. x. 12). It was 

* After the captivity, the Jews borrowing the invention of the pagan na- 
tions, gave names to angels, and were scrupulously careful to retain them. 
In Tobit iii. 17, we find the name of Raphael ; and in 2 Esdras iv. 1 ; i. 36, 
Uriel, or Jeremiel, an archangel. 



106 



RANKS AJTD TITLES. 



the opinion of the Jews, that there are noxious and accusing 
spirits who fly about the air, and that there is no space be- 
tween the earth and the firmament that is free from them, 
but the air is full of demons. 

"\ arious opinions have been given as to the dispute re- 
specting the body of Moses in the martial contest between 
Michael and Satan. Some consider it has been taken from 
an apocryphal book, or a Jewish legend, and only mentioned 
as an illustration ; but such a quotation hardly would have 
been made by an inspired penman. Others think that the 
body of Moses is a figurative expression for the Jewish peo- 
ple or polity, as Christians are called the body of Christ, 
and has reference to Zech. iii. 2. But it seems most rea- 
sonable to conclude that Moses was buried by the ministra- 
tion of angels, Deut. xxxiv. 6, and the spot concealed, lest 
his remains should be made the object of idolatrous wor- 
ship. Lightfoot, however, considers it a mere Jewish tra- 
dition, quoted by the apostle to meet the Jews on their own 
ground. 

That the body of the Jews and their service, should be 
called the body of Moses, and that these words are to be 
referred to Zech. iii. 1, 2, seems not very probable, seeing 
in that prophet there is no mention of Michael or of the 
body, or the death of Moses, nor doth Onias speak of the 
body of Moses, (2 Mace. xv. 12), but of the whole Jewish 
nation. 

Moreover, that Moses was not buried by the Jews, we 
learn from Scripture, which saith, JSTo man knoiceth of his 
sepulchre unto this day, and therefore Philo saith, he was 
buried not by men, but angels ; that there was an alterca- 
tion betwixt Michael the archangel, and Sammael the prince 
of Devils, about the body of Moses, we learn from the tra- 
dition of the Jews ; and it is most probable it was not only 



RANKS AND TITLES. 



107 



that his sepulchre might be unknown, lest the Jews, who 
were prone to idolatry, should worship him ; but about the 
ascent of it into heaven, he being taken away as Enoch and 
Elias were, and not dying the common death of men, (which 
Satan contended he ought to do, for killing the Egyptian), 
but disappearing only. 

Hence the Jews say, " ascenditad ministrandum Excelso," 
that he ascended to minister to the Lord. And Philo saith, 
God brought him near to himself, saying to him, stand with 
and that by the word of God he was translated, whence 
he was present with Elias at the transfiguration of our 
Lord.* 

" Lawrence has translated from the Ethiopic, the book 
of Enoch (Jude 14), which was brought from Abyssinia by 
Bruce, and considers it to have been written by some Jew, 
a short time before the Christian era. It does not appear 
to have ever been received into the sacred canon ; and the 
quotation of a single passage from it by St. Jude, as Law- 
rence observes, will not prove his approbation of the whole 
book, more than the quotations from uninspired writers by 
other apostles ; but the book itself is interesting, as showing 
what were the Jewish opinions upon various points, before 
the birth of Christ. The passage quoted by St. Jude, 
forms what is called chap. 2 of the Book of Enoch, and is 
translated by Lawrence as follows : " Behold he comes with 
ten thousand of his saints, to execute judgment upon them, 
to destroy the wicked, and to reprove all the carnal for 
everything which the sinful and ungodly have done and com- 
mitted against him." 

In the testament of the twelve patriarchs, a similar ficti- 
tious or apocryphal work, about the beginning of the second 
century, the belief or practice seems to have existed, of the 

Patrick. — Annotations. 



108 



BANKS AND TITLES. 



invocation of intercessory angels, who made supplication on 
behalf of the righteous, and obtained the remission of their 
sins ; and which fictions were deposited, as testimony be- 
fore the angels of the presence of the Most High. In this 
spurious production Gabriel is represented as praying for 
those who dwell on earth, and supplicating the Lord of 
spirits. 

Angel. — This name may be considered as a generical 
term applied to the various orders of intelligences belonging 
to the spiritual world, as well as those diversified agencies 
and ministrations which Jehovah has been pleased to employ 
as instruments in accomplishing the omnipotent purposes of 
His will, declared in the operations of nature ; the proce- 
dures of his Providence, and the economy of Grace, as con- 
nected with the redemption of mankind. The term is 
derived from a Greek word avyefog (angelos), signifying 
messenger ; and in its most comprehensive acceptation is a 
name of office, not of nature : — nomen non natura sed 
officii. The most august and prominent personage to w^hom 
this name has been attached is the Angel-Jehovah, the 
Messenger of the everlasting Covenant — the Messiah. 

In several places of the Old Testament we find mention 
of this sacred person, under the title of Angel of the Lord, 
styling himself Jehovah and God ; exercising Divine pre- 
rogatives, manifesting Divine perfections, and claiming, the 
homage which is due s to Deity alone. " This person, there- 
fore, 5 ' remarks Dr. Hunter, in his Sacred Biography, " can 
be none other than the uncreated Angel of the Covenant, 
who, 6 at sundry times and in diverse manners,' in matur- 
ing the work of redemption, assumed a sensible appearance ; 
and at length, in the fulness of time, united his Divine na- 
ture to ours, and dwelt among men, and made them "to 



RANKS AND TITLES. 



109 



behold his glory, as the glory of the only-begotten of the 
Father, full of grace and truth.' " 

To Adam appeared the " Angel Jehovah/' in Paradise,* 
both before and after his transgression — although no specific 
or express mention is given of God being revealed to him in 
this character or relation before the apostacy ; but as the 
Son of God " created all things visible and invisible, 5 ' we 
believe that " the Lord God, who formed man of the dust of 
the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, 
and man became a living soul," was the Angel Jehovah. 

In the beginning of the third chapter of Exodus, the glori- 
ous individual who appeared to Moses, and spoke to him out 
of the burning bush, was this " Angel of the Covenant." — 
" Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro, the priest of Midian, 
and he led the flock to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. 
And the Angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of 
fire, out of the midst of a bush. And when the Lord saw that 
he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst 
of the bush. Moreover, he said, I am the God of thy Fa- 
ther, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God 
of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to 
look upon God. And God said unto Moses, I am that 

I AM." 

* Three things were necessary to be known by man, even in a state of in- 
nocence and purity, and they appear to have been revealed by the voice — 
the Angel Jehovah, which talked with our first parents, in Eden. These 
were — the right choice of food, the institution of marriage, and the use of 
language. The Angel Jehovah had been the guide and protector of man be- 
fore the fall, and He afterwards becomes his Mediator and Judge. The 
Angel J ehovah commences a new dispensation, which, when it has passed 
through its three forms of the Patriarchal, Levitical, and Christian, will be 
terminated by reviving and perfecting the primeval happiness of mankind, 
in that future Paradise, of which the Garden of Eden was but a type and 
emblem. 



110 



RANKS AND TITLES. 



The reply of Hagar, the handmaid of Sarah, contained in 
the narrative regarding her in the 16th chapter of Genesis, 
points out the angel which addressed her as the " Angel of 
the Covenant. " — " Thou God seest me." 

One of the three heavenly messengers whom Abraham 
u entertained unawares," was the Angel of the Covenant, is 
evident from the name Jehovah, which the patriarch ren- 
dered, and the supplication made to him to avert the de- 
struction of Sodom ; and it was the same Angel of the Lord 
who called to him out of heaven the second time, upon the 
obedience of his faith manifested in the sacrificial offering of 
his only son Isaac, when he received the assurance, " By 
Myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou 
hast done this thing, that in blessing I will bless thee, — be- 
cause thou hast obeyed my voice." 

It was the same glorious personage who appeared to Jacob 
in the mysterious conflict of Peniel — " For I have seen God 
face to face, and my life is preserved. Likewise unto 
Joshua, on succeeding Moses, as the leader of Israel, styl- 
ing himself the " Captain of the host of the Lord ;" to 
Manoah, the father of Sampson. " And Manoah said unto 
his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God. 
But his wife said unto him, if the Lord were pleased to kill 
us, he would not have told us such things as these." — 
Judges, xiii. 16-23. 

In various passages of the prophetic book of Zechariah, 
this Divine Person is described as being intimately acquaint- 
ed with the counsels of the Most High, as presiding over 
the affairs of the world, directing the ministrations of supe- 
rior intelligences ; as protecting, vindicating, and interceding 
for the oppressed Jewish church, as judging and triumphing 
over their enemies, as sent by the Lord of Hosts, and there- 
fore repeatedly called " Jehovah." Passages evidently 



HANKS AND TITLES. 



Ill 



pointing out the Great u Angel" or " Messenger of Jehovah, 55 
respecting whom, Dr. J. Pye Smith, in his Scripture Testi- 
mony, observes — " that he claims uncontrolled sovereignty- 
over the affairs of men ; He has the attributes of omnisci- 
ence and omnipresence ; He performs works which only om- 
nipotence could accomplish ; He uses the awful formula by 
which the Deity, on various occasions, condescended to con- 
firm the faith of those to whom the primitive revelations 
were given; He ■ swears by Himself He is the gracious 
Protector, and Saviour, the Redeemer from all evil, the In- 
tercessor, and the author of the most desirable blessings ; 
His favor is to be sought with the deepest solicitude, as that 
which is of the highest importance to the interests of men ; 
He is the object of religious invocation ; He is, in the most 
express manner, and repeatedly declared to be Jehovah, 
God, the ineffable I am that I am ; yet this mysterious 
person is represented as distinct from God, and acting (as 
the term Angel imports) under a divine mission." 

Gods ; from the Hebrew, translated elohim, is a word, 
in several instances, applied to angels in the Scripture. So 
the inspired Psalmist calls upon and admonishes the mighti- 
est and noblest of created beings to render cheerful and 
solemn homage to the Messiah, " worship him all ye gods." 
Bishop Home remarks, that this clause of the verse estab- 
lishes " Christ's supremacy over all that are called gods in 
heaven or in earth, and who are hereby enjoined to pay 
adoration to him instead of claiming it for themselves." 
In Hebrews i. 6, St. Paul teaches us that the gods elohim 
in Psalm xcvii. 7, are angelic spirits. The Hebrew word 
elohim, is first employed in the Bible in Gen. i. 1, as the 
sacred name of God the creator, and though plural, it is 
joined to a singular verb, to inculcate, as many believe, the 
doctrine of the adorable Trinity. 



112 



BANKS AND TITLES. 



The application of the term elohim or gods, to angels, 
commentators consider as denoting their power and au- 
thority as the delegated administrators of the divine gov- 
ernment, in different parts of the world ; as magistrates are 
appointed under kings to execute justice in assigned dis- 
tricts and provinces -of their kingdoms. Judges and magis- 
trates are, therefore, designated by the epithet elohim or 
gods, " God standeth in the congregation of the mighty, he 
judgeth amongst the gods. " — Psalm lxxxii. 1. Rulers and 
judges are here intended, as is manifest from the following 
verses : " How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the 
persons of the wicked ? I have said ye are gods J and all 
of you shall die like men." — Verses 2, 6, 7. 

Sons of God, is another title applied to the angels who 
resemble in glory and effulgence the morning star, or as 
others suppose, on account of the luminous vehicles with 
which they are clothed. The morning star is distinguished 
for its peculiar brightness. What a grand appearance does 
the poetry of Job (xxxviii. 7) present to our view — ten thou- 
sand times ten thousand and thousand of thousands of glit- 
tering angels attending the birth of time, and hymning hal- 
lelujahs to the Almighty Creator. 

The appellation also indicates their near relation to the 
Supreme Being in reference to His paternity, as well as the 
superlative beauty and splendor of character by which they 
outshine all other intelligent creatures, and not improbably, 
an intimation of their office as the harbingers of the Sun 
of Righteousness. Under this head it may be as well to 
remark, that the term of Sons of God has been applied to 
believers under the Old and New Testament dispensa- 
tions, as in the 6th chapter of Genesis and the 2d verse ;* 

* Mr. Moore's luscious poem entitled Loves of the Angels, is founded on a 
misapprehension as well as misapplication of this text, " That the sons of 



RANKS AND TITLES. 



113 



and also Hosea i. 10 ; John i. 13 ; Romans vii. 14, 19 ; 
Phil. 2 ; 1 John iii. 1, 2. A prophetic dream or vision, 
the pillar of fire that went before the Israelites in the jour- 
neyings of the wilderness, winds, flame of fire, specials provi- 
dences, the elements, &c, as the angel over the waters, 
Rev. xvi. 5 ; angel over the fire, Rev. xiv. 18, as well as 
judgments, are called in the Scriptures angels of God's pro- 
vidential dispensations and gracious purposes. 

Angels of the Churches* are frequently alluded to 

God saw the daughters of men that they were fair ; and took them wives of 
all they chose." Some understood by the sons of God, the great men, nobles, 
rulers and judges, who being captivated with the " beauty of the daughters 
of men," that is of the meaner sort, took by force and violence as many as 
they pleased. (May not the classic fable of the Romans carrying away the 
Sabine women, have originated from a tradition of this misunderstood text 
of Holy Writ ?) But other ancient interpreters, together with those of mod- 
ern times, by the " Sons of God," understand the posterity of Seth, who 
were worshippers of the true God, (chap. iv. 26,) and who now saw and 
conversed with u the daughters of men," that is, the daughters of the un- 
godly race of Cain. 

* Ephesus was the chief of the Seven Asiatic churches, the metropolis 
of Proconsular Asia, and principal residence of St. John : for which reason, 
his first epistle was addressed to this particular church, over which, as well 
as the others, he appointed bishops, in the ecclesiastical capacity of their 
metropolitan. 

According to Strabo, Ephesus was one of the best and most glorious of 
cities, and the emporium of this part of Asia. It was called by Pliny, 
one of the eyes of Asia, Smyrna being the other, but recent travellers who 
have visited it relate, that it has nothing venerable remaining excepting the 
ruins of palaces, temples, and amphitheatres. It is spoken of by the 
Turks, by a name which signifies the temple of the moon, from the mag- 
nificent structure anciently dedicated to the goddess Diana. The church of 
St. Paul is wholly destroyed. The little which remains of the church of 
St. Mark is a complete ruin. The only church remaining is that dedicated 
to St. John, which is now converted into a Turkish mosque. The whole 
town is nothing but a habitation of herdsmen and farmers, living in low and 
humble mud cottages, sheltered from the inclemency of the weather by 
mighty masses of ruinous walls. The pride and ostentation of former days, 
6 



114 



KkKXS AXD TITLES. 



by St. John, in the Revelation, as clesignative of the Pas- 
tors of the seven churches of Asia, to whom he wrote epis- 
tles of warning, admonition, and condemnation. Prideaux 
observes, that the minister of the Synagogue, who officiated 
in offering the public prayers, being the mouth of the con- 
gregation, delegated by them as their representative, messen- 
ger or angel to address God in prayer for them, was in 
Hebrew named Sheliack-Zibbor, that is, the angel of the 
church ; and that from hence the chief of the ministers of 
the seven churches in Asia, in the apocalypse are, by a 
title borrowed from the Synagogue, called the angels of the 
churches. 

Watchers, is also a title by which the angels are denomi- 
nated in the prophecy of Daniel, iv. 13 : " and behold a 
watcher, and an holy one came down from heaven ;" and at 
verse IT : " The matter is by the decree of the watcher," 
who, in the divinely admonitory dream of Nebuchadnezzar, 
forewarned him of his doom. The Hebrew root signifies 
one that watches, or is waking, or one that wakeneth and 
stirreth up others. In Malachi ii. 12, it is rendered Mas- 
ter. — " The Lord shall cut off the man that doeth this ; the 
master and the scholar." It was a proverbial expression 
descriptive of an instructor, or one that u wakeneth the ear" 
of his disciple. The Septuagint or Greek version, use the 
word Eq), from which, as some think, the Greeks derive 
their I?ns, or messenger of their Gods. They are called 
watchers or wakers, either in respect of their spiritual and 
incorporeal nature not needing sleep, or in respect of their 

and the emblem, in these of the frailty of the world, and the transient vanity 
of human glory. All the inhabitants of this once famous city amount not 
now to more than forty or fifty families of Turks, without one Christian 
family among them. So strikingly has the denunciation been fulfilled, that 
their candlestick should be moved out of its place. — D' Oyly and Mant. 



RANKS AND TITLES. 



115 



watchful office, being always ready to do the will of God ; 
and from their constant care and vigilant guard of God's 
people, are emphatically called Watchers. Bishop Horsley 
contends that angels are not intended by the u watchers." 
He says, " amongst those who understand the titles of 
' Watchers 5 and ' Holy Ones 5 of angelic beings, it is not 
quite agreed whether they are angels of the cabinet or the 
provincial governors — the tutelar angels to whom these ap- 
pellations belong. The majority, I think, are for the former. 
But it is agreed by all, that they must be principal angels 
— angels of the highest order. Of how high an order, in- 
deed, must these ' Watchers 5 and ' Holy Ones ' have 
been on w^hose decrees the judgments of God himself are 
founded, and by whom the warrant for the execution is 
finally issued ! It is surprising that such men as Calvin 
among the Protestants of the Continent, — such as Wells 
and the elder Lowth in our own church, — and such as Cal- 
met in the Church of Rome, should not have their eyes open 
to the error and impiety, indeed, of such an exposition as 
this, which makes them angels. The plain truth is, that 
some learned men, though but few, have seen it, that these 
appellations, c Watchers 5 and 6 Holy Ones,' denote the 
Persons in the Godhead ; the first, describing them by the 
vigilance of their universal providence, — the second, by the 
transcendant sanctity of their nature." 

In this view of the subject, few expositors coincide with 
the Bishop, whilst the title appropriately portrays the attri- 
butes and characteristics of angels ; for their sleepless dili- 
gence in executing the appointed services of their Almighty 
Sovereign, and their watchful attendance,, protection and as- 
sistance to the faithful people of God during all the toils, and 
trials and temptations of their earthly pilgrimage ; and well, 
therefore, might the inspired psalmist invoke them : " Bless 



116 



RANKS AND TITLES. 



the Lord, ye his angels that excel in strength, that do his 
commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word." 
— Psalm ciii. 20. 

Thrones (dpovoi), Dominions (fcvpLorvreg)^ Princi- 
palities, (agx^), Powers (egovaiag), are titles given 
to the angels by St. Paul, in his epistle to the Colossians i. 
16, and denote metonymically that they " sit on thrones, 
exercise dominion, hold authority, preside in governments, 
and are invested with the powers necessary for these great 
purposes."* " They are also styled Chief Princes, to inti- 
mate that they are the first order of rulers in the universe, 
under Him who has prepared his throne in the heavens, 
and whose kingdom ruleth over all. They are called the 
Sons of God, to teach us that they are beings related to God 
in character, favor, place, and authority. They are called 
Morning Stars, implying the splendor and glory by which 
they surpass all other intellectual beings. They are called 
Cherubim and Seraphim, to inform us that they are beings 
furnished with superior knowledge to discern, and with su- 
perior holiness to pursue whatever is good and right, honor- 
able to the Creator, and useful to his creatures. 

From the preceding scriptural nomenclature, descriptive 
of the qualifications and attributes of Holy Angels, we are 
confirmed in the belief of the transcendent nature which 
they possess, the supereminent station which they sustain 
amongst created intelligences, and the permanent dignity 
by which they are adorned and distinguished, as the royal 
attendants around the throne of the Most High ; nor can 
we worthily honor the " living oracles " of God as regards 
the information which they supply respecting them, justify 
our profession of faith, based on the testimony of Inspiration, 
neither realize the full extent of that consolation, support 

* President D wight. — System of Theology. 



RANKS AND TITLES. 



117 



and felicity which the biblical doctrine of their real exist- 
ence and varied ministrations is intended to impart, unless 
we sincerely apply our understandings and hearts to a sober 
and serious investigation of a subject so sublime and glo- 
rious, delightful and edifying ; whilst for the constant, 
though invisible protection, assistance, and guidance of these 
benevolent, illustrious, and immortal spirits, it behooves us 
to render the acknowledgments of grateful praise to the 
Maker of heaven and of earth — the Lord of angels, who 
sends them forth with embassies of favor and grace, to 
" minister especially for them who shall be the heirs of 
salvation." 

TRADITIONARY AND SPECULATIVE. 

Jewish traditions, with their characteristic extravagance and 
variety, abound with allusions to the celestial hierarchy, which 
they have described as containing four orders or companies, 
each presided over by its particular archangel ; the first order 
is under the gubernatorial superintendence of Michael ; the 
second, under the government of Gabriel ; the third, under the 
dominion of Uriel ; and the fourth, belongs to the jurisdiction of 
Eaphael. Others multiply the number to ten orders, and others 
again, greatly increase their ranks, having numerous associations 
of bright spirits under their immediate direction and control, 
within the circuit of the seven celestial regions ; whilst the vari- 
ous speculations of the Christian fathers, and ecclesiastical 
writers, in general, include nine orders, comprehending three 
hierarchies, founded on that passage in Colossians i. 16 : For 
by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are 
in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or domin- 
ions, or principalities, or poicers : all things were created by him 
and for him. 

The J ews supposed the angelical world to be organized under 



118 



RAXKS AJSD TITLES. 



ten denominations, to -which they have given the following 
names : Chaioth-Hakkodesh, Ophanim. Erellim, Chasmalim, 
Seraphim. Melachim, Elohim, Ben-Elohim, Cherubim. Islim. 
In the hierarchy of the heavenly host, the Kabbins single out as 
the most illustrious, Metraton^ respecting whom the following 
particulars are related in the collection of cabalistical doctrines, 
called the book of Zohar, or The Boole of Light. This mysteri- 
ous person the Zohar styles the angel of the Lord, which de- 
notes the Shechinah referred to in Exodus iii. 2, u It is he who 
liveth forever and ever, who is arrayed with the name (Metra- 
ton) Mediator.*' The Mediator is the servant of the Lord, the 
Elder of his house, who is head of the creation of the Lord, ex- 
ercising dominion over all things that are Ins ; for the Holy and 
Blessed God hath given him dominion over all. 

Buxtorf and Witsius have also collected some singular tradi- 
tions concerning Metraton, an appellative probably derived from 
the latin Metator. and subsequently employed in the sense of 
Mediator. " The Targum of Jonathan gave the same appella- 
tion to Enoch after his translation. In subsequent times, it 
was differently understood; and the doctrine arose of an inferior 
Metraton, Enoch, and a superior, who is called Zohar. The 
very Shechinah himself — the Crown of the ten Perfections. — 
the Pillar of the Metraton, — in whom the Holy and the Blessed 
God appears in his Shechinah."* 

Dr. Owen, in alluding to this angel, whom the Talmudists 
call Metraton, speaks of the title as a tradition of the glorious 
name of Messiah ; of which even since their utter rejection, the 
Jews retain some obscure remembrance, and by which they 
obviously intend any uncreated angel ; and the Cabalists say, 
Metraton was the master or teacher of Moses himself ; the Tal- 
mudist adding, that he hath power to blot out the sins of Israel ; 
■whence they call him the Chancellor of Heaven ; but Bechai, 
a famous master amongst them, affirms, that his name sig- 

* Vide Dr. J. P. Smith, Testimony to the Messiah, 



RANKS AND TITLES. 



119 



nifies both a Lord, a Messenger, and Keeper. A Lord, be- 
cause he ruleth all : a Messenger, because he standeth always 
before God to do his will ; and a Keeper, because he keepeth 
Israel.* 

From amongst the puerilities and degrading superstitions 
which becloud the understanding of the Messiah-rejecting Israel, 
the following traditions appear. The angel Metraton is the 
king of angels. Metraton distributes among all princes or 
angels of the nations their necessaries. He gathers all songs 
that are made in the universe, weaving the prayers and songs 
of the Israelites into garlands, because he is set over the songs 
of sinners to bring them into the innermost. He ascends up to 
the throne of glory above nine hundred firmaments, to carry 
up the prayers of the Israelites. Metraton, by some of the 
Rabbins, is considered as the great personage mentioned in 
the Old Testament, under the term of " The angel of the 
Lord, 75 or " The Angel- Jehovah." " The Messenger of the 
Covenant," specified in Malachi, chap. iii. 1. Another Rabbi 
declares, " There is a man that is an angel, and this is Metra- 
ton. And there is a man in the image of God, who is an em- 
anation from him, and this is Jehovah ; of whom can be affirmed 
neither creation, nor formation, nor fabrication, but only emana- 
tion." One authority insists, " Behold, out of the bodies of 
Enoch and Elijah, are made angelical forms ; for out of Enoch 
is made Metraton, but out of the body of Elijah, Sandalphon." 
The following is a specimen of absurd extravagance : " While 
Enoch, alias Metraton, was in the course of his ascension to 
the celestial regions, the various orders of angels smelled the 
scent of him five thousand three hundred and eighty miles off, 
and were somewhat displeased at the introduction of a being 
of the human race into their superior world, till God pacified 
them by explaining the cause of his translation." To complete 
the ludicrous contrast of meanness with magnificence, it is fur- 

* Dr. Owen, on the Hebrews. 



120 



RAKKS AND TITLES. 



ther asserted, that " Metraton was a cobbler, and was intent on 
eveiy stitch, and he spake of God. The name of the glory of 
his kingdom be blessed forever."* 

Some of the Jewish writers have endeavored to prove, that 
all the angels have their proper names ; and the Cabalists con- 
tend that the names of all the angels are contained in the 
Scriptures mysteriously. 

The Mussulmen say of Gabriel, that he descended, in one 
hour, from heaven, overturning a mountain with a single feather 
of his wing. 

Dionysius enumerates nine orders of angels, corresponding to 
the number specified in the Scriptures, and describes their seve- 
ral distinctions in the following manner : — The first three orders 
are for immediate attendance upon the Almighty ; the next 
three, for the general government of his creatures ; the last 
three, for the particular good of God's elect : that the arch- 
angels surpass the beauty of angels, ten times ; principalities 
exceed the archangels, twenty times ; powers excel the princi- 
palities, forty times, &e. The learned Mede, in his diatribe on 
the angels, speaks of seven principal angels which stand before 
the throne of God, and also represents them as the seven eyes 
of Jehovah, which run to and fro through the whole earth, being 
the seven spirits mentioned by St. John. The erudite prelate 
further remarks — that these titles which they attach to the 
respective class of angels are characteristic either of the qualities 
in which they excel, or of the offices assigned to them by God. 
Thus they choose to call those Cherubim which excel in the 
splendor of knowledge ; Seraphim, those which are most ardent 
in divine love ; Thrones, those which contemplate the glory 
and equity of the Divine judgments. The Cherubim^ they say, 
enlighten others with wisdom; the Sercqihim inspire them with 
love ; the Thrones teach to rule with judgment. Those of the 
first class they suppose never to be sent forth to discharge any 
office, but wait upon God continually. In the middle class they 
* Allen. Modern Judaism — passim. 



RANKS AND TITLES. 



121 



place the Dominions, as they suppose, to regulate the duties of 
the Angels ; the Principalities preside over the people and the 
provinces ; the Powers are a check upon evil spirits. In the last 
class, they put the virtues, as having the power of working mi- 
racles assigned to them ; the Archangels are sent as messengers 
on matters of importance ; Angels, on those of less conse- 
quence. St. Augustine intimates his belief in these distinctions, 
but confesses his inability to define them with precision, and 
challenges any one else who can. 

" It is the opinion of that great doctor and prince of divines, 
St. Thomas Aquinas, that the angels are so different in nature 
and perfection, that there is not two of one sort and kind (as 
there are of men and other creatures), but that every one is 
distinguished in nature and office from every one, even from the 
highest to the lowest. Which his opinion is generally received 
of all Thomists, who for their numbers and learning bear no 
little sway in the schools, and are no little esteemed in the 
church of God. The same doctor is also of opinion that the 
angels are far more in number than are all the species or kinds 
of all corporeal creatures in the world, that is, more than the 
celestial bodies, than the simple bodies which we call the four 
elements, yea, than all the mixed bodies composing them, be 
they animate or inanimate, living or not living, as beasts, 
plants, herbs, metals, and the like, which is the opinion of all 
his followers, do embrace as constantly as they do the former." 
— Mathew Kellison, from Southey's Common Place Booh. 

Plato's Theology classified his gods, demons or spirits into 
three kinds, — superior, inferior, and intermediate. The superior 
reside in the heavens, and by the excellency of their nature, 
are so far above mortals, that except by the intervention of the 
intermediate gods, who inhabit the air, mankind can hold no in- 
tercourse with them, and whom they commission as ministers 
to the human race, carrying the behests of the Supreme to men, 
and returning with the offerings and vows of mortals to the 
gods, according to the appointment of each, in his respective 
6* 



122 



BANKS AND TITLES. 



department of the government of the world, and who preside- 
over oracles, and divinations, in all their variety; are the 
authors of all miracles which are performed, and those prodigies 
which happen. The third class he places over rivers, and also 
assigns them the influence of instilling dreams as well as the 
performance of wonders, similar to the power of the intermedi- 
ate, who, fill all parts of the universe, appearing to, and vanish- 
ing from mortal vision constantly. It is most probable that the 
sentiments of Plato originated from the sylphs, salamanders, 
the elves and gnomes of the Cabbala. 

Plato also inculcated the opinion, that the demon or angel 
which attends us at our birth, conducts the soul after death, to 
the place of judgment. Those who are considered to have led 
neither an entirely criminal, nor yet an absolutely innocent life, 
are transported by Acheron's boat to the Acherusian lake, 
where they dwell and suffer punishment proportionate to their 
vices, and remain, till after having undergone a sort of purgato- 
rial abstersion from their sins, they are set at liberty and ob- 
tain the recompense of their good actions. Those whose wick- 
edness is deemed incorrigible, who have been guilty of sacrilege 
and murder, or other offences of equal depravity, are by a just 
and fatal destiny thrown into Tartarus, where they are incarce- 
rated forever. But those under the imputation of curable de- 
linquencies, though considerable ones, such as homicide, are 
conveyed into the waters of Cocylus ; parricides being cast into 
Phlegeton, which ultimately draws them into the Acherusian 
lake. 

The following arrangement of angels, according to the 
signs of the Zodiac, will explain the pictorial representa- 
tion of the Frontispiece. The ancients divided the Zo- 
diac into twelve signs, or compartments, or houses. The 
first house, is the house of life ; the second, of riches ; the 
third, of brothers ; the fourth, of parents ; the fifth, of 
children ; the sixth, of wealth ; the seventh, of marriage ; 



RANKS AND TITLES. 



123 



the eighth, of death : the ninth, of religion ; the tenth, of 
dignities ; the eleventh, of friends ; the twelfth, of enemies. 
Each house had one of the heavenly bodies as its peculiar 
and presiding lord. 

For further particulars of the singular work, from which 
the subjoined extracts are taken see Mesmerism in the 
Parterre, at the end. 

The Rabbins they, 

And Cabalists, further proceed and say, 
(How warranted I know not). That there be, 
Twelve potents of this Divine faculty ; 
Three oriental, and three occidental, 
Three septentrional and three meridional. 
Chaoz. the first great eastern power they call, 
Whose prince Mathidielis. and he sways all 
That doth belong to Aries : the next place 
Corona hath : and Vaschiel hath the grace, 
Of that to be the chief regent ; Leo he, 
Hath subject in his second Empyree ; 
Hermans the third ; Adnachiel dost carry 
That potence, and rules the Saggitary. 
The first of the occidental, Gelphor, and 
Ambriel the prince, the Gemini they stand, 
Beneath his sway, Bleor next : his lord 
Zaniel, who guides the sceptre and the sword, 
Caphet the last ; Gabriel the president 
And o'er Aquarius hath the government. 
The first Septentrional. Bethzan. Manuel prince, 
And he the sign of Cancer doth convince. 
The next Zonocharel by name they know, 
Barchiel the chief, and rules o'er Scorpio, 
Over the third, Elizan, Varchiel reigns, 
He Pisces in his principate contains. 
The first power Austral, they Pantheon style 
Asmodes prince, in that doth reconcile 
The sign called Taurus : and the second Tim, 
Hamabiel is the prince and governs him. 
In the sign Virgo, Haim, is the third born, 
Hannuel, the prince, and governs Capricorn. 



124 



RANKS AND TITLES. 



Ancient names corrresponding with the Scripture titles 
of the nine orders of the celestial hierarchy. 

URIEL — Seraphim. 
The blessed Seraph doth imply, 
The love we owe to the Most High. 
Amant Sapientes capiunt cceteri. 

ZOPHIEL— Cherubim. 
God's knowledge treats the Cherubim, 
He nothing knows, that knows not God. 
Nil scit qui Deus nescit. 

ZAPHKIEL — Thrones. 
All glory to the Holy One, 
Even Him that sits upon the Throne. 
Gloria sendentia super. 

ZADKIEL — Dominions. 
There is no power, no domination, 
But from the Lord of our Salvation. 
Omnis dominatio a domino. 

HANIEL — Virtues. 
We aim at the celestial glory, 
Below the moon alPs transitory. 
Sancti vulnere vivescunt. 

RAPHAEL — Powers. 
The mighty power of God was shown. 
When the great Dragon was overthrown. 
Puros creavit, perdite ceciderunt. 

CHAMIEL— Principalities. 

In heaven, in earth, in hell some sway, 
Others again are taught to obey. 
Protago, Protero. 

MICHAEL — Archangel. 
Michael whom Satan durst oppose, 
Can guard us from inferior foes. 
Vincit qui patitur. 

GABRIELt-Angel. 
The angel unto man known best, 
As last of nine, concludes the rest. 
Missus ad missos. 



BANKS AND TITLES. 



125 



The Cherubims with wings far stretched, again 
As Moses (so the Scriptures tell us plain) 
Ten curtains to the sacred machine made, 
So in three parts of the world are said, 
To be no less than ten distinct decrees. 
And first of the supercelestial ; these, 
Th' Angels, Archangels, and the Principates, 
Thrones, Dominations, Virtues, Potentates, 
The Cherubims and Seraphims ; then He, 
(Above all the rest) the Supreme Deity. 

Some write that over every heaven and sphere 
Are several angels plac'd and governs there. 
The sophist those Intelligences call ; 
The Hebrews Cherubims ; whose lot thus fall ; 
Metraton doth the Primum Mobile guide ; 
Ophaniel, in the starry heaven reside ; 
The Sun's sphere, Varcan ; the moon's lower ray 
Arcan disposeth : Mars, (his) Satan sways. 
Mercury's, Madan ; Jove's Guth: Venus star 
Jurabates : and Saturn's seen from far ; 
Maion. And all these in the height they enjoy. 
Have power inferior spirits to employ. 

Seven angels (as the Scriptures witness) stand 

Before the Almighty, first at his command ; 

And these by his divine infusion know 

How to dispose of all things here below ; 

As those celestials ; who doth institute 

Those Seven, his divine will execute. 

Years, days, and hours amongst them they divide, 

The planets and the stars they likewise guide. 

The precedent of Sol is Raphael, 

The guardian of the Moon, called Gabriel, 

Chamuel the third, Mars his bright star protects, 

Michael the sphere of Mercury directs. 

Adabiel, o'er Jove hath domination, 

And Haniel of Venus gubernation. 

Zaphiel is Saturn's prince and of spirits seven 

Saint John makes mention with their place in heaven. 



The Angels who control the elements : — 



126 



RANKS AND TITLES. 



Which from th ? Evangelist have doctors ground, 

Because it is in the Apocaylps thus found; 
On the four angles of the Earth I saw, 
Standing four angels, those that kept in awe, 
The four great winds restraining them from blowing 
On earth, on sea, or on any tree growing. 

Four angels, as four viceroys, are exprest, 

To sway the four winds placed above the rest ; 

All princes, and with mighty power endued, 

Remarkable for their celsitude. 

The East, whence Eurus blows, sways Michael, 

The West, whence Zephyr breathes, guide Raphael, 

The North, whence Boreas blusters, Gabriel ; 

The South, whence duster comes, rules Uriel. 

Others there be that doth not doubt to say, 
That the four elements are fore'd t ? obey 
Four several angels ; Seraph reigns o'er fire, 
Cherub, the air ; and Thursus doth aspire 
Over the water, and the earth's great lord, 
Ariel, the Hebrew Rabbins thus accord. 

Nine orders of Devils, corresponding with the nine orders 
of Angels, incorporated with those singled out by Burton : 

Beelzebub. — Prince of devils, and presides over oracles, &c. 
Python. — Author of lies, equivocations, slanders, &c. 
Belial. — Author of evils, and all iniquities, &c. 
Asmodeus. — Punisher of men for their depravities, &c. 
Satan. — The chief of magicians, author of witchcraft, &c. 
Meresin. — Author of storms, tempests, thunder, lightning, earth- 
quakes, plagues, &c. 

Abaddon. — Author of wars, discord, &c. 

Astaroth, or Diabolus. — Author of false accusations, &e. 

Mammon. — Author of sinful temptations, frauds, &c. 

Next touching the rare knowledge which insists 
In them by nature ; some Theologists 
Affirm them pregnant in theologie, 
Philosophy, Mathematics, Astrologie. 
In Music they are skill' d, expert in Physicke, 
In Grammar, Logicke and Arithmeticke. 



RANKS AND TITLES. 



127 



We add the following eccentric poetical description of 
Satan's ubiquitous influence, knowledge, and attributes 
(using modern orthography). 

In all materials he acquainted is, 

From the earth's superficies, to the abyss ; 

He knows such virtues, as in stones abide, 

Gems, minerals, creeping worms, and beasts (for hide 

From him you nothing can) for he doth vaunt 

Still in the marble, porphyry, adamant, 

The coral, pumice, and the chrysolite, 

The smaragd, topaz, and the margarite. 

The onyx, carbuncle, gold, silver, lead, 

Brass, iron, and sulphurs ; He is likewise read 

In the properties of creeping things, 

Ants, toads, snails, serpents (all that the earth brings) . 

Of all the several fishes he hath notion, 

Bred in fresh waters, or the briny ocean ; 

Of Beasts the sundry qualities he finds, 

Sows, bears, tigers, camels, horses, hinds, 

The elephant, the fox, ape, ass, mule, cat, 

Sheep, wolf, hare, hedge-hog, with each other that 

The earth produceth ; So in herbs, and trees, 

Plants, leaves, fruits, roots, seeds, juices, liquors, these 

The artist hath like skill in. He can tell 

The sev'ral qualities of fowls, and well 

Distinguish them ; as such and such belong 

To the earth, air, or water. He is strong 

In further knowledge of the elements, 

As in their power, their nature, and extents. 

He is further represented as the sovereign lord of every 
species of magicians, incantation, &c. 

For most of this prognosticating tribe, 
Metals unto each planet can ascribe ; 
Silver, unto the Moon, to the Sun was 
Gold sacred, unto Jove copper and brass, 
To Venus white lead, unto Saturn black, 
Iron and steel to Mars ; nor doth there lack 
Amber to Mercury. To each of them 
They likewise consecrate several gem, 



128 



BANKS AND TITLES. 



Unto the sun, the carbuncle is due, 
And hyacinth of color green and blue ; 
Th' adamant and crystal to the queen of night, 
To Saturn the onyx, and the chrysolite, 
The sapphire with the diamond to Jove, 
The jasper and the magnet Mars doth love, 
Smaragd and Sardis Venus doth not hate, 
Nor Mercury topaz and agate. 



ATTRIBUTES AND CHARACTERISTICS. 



In the present section of our inviting subject, the requi- 
sition devolves upon us, to examine a little more fully those 
wonderful attributes which have been manifested by angelic 
power and ministration, as well as portray those attractive 
lineaments which distinguish and adorn the disposition and 
character of the illustrious inhabitants of the celestial world 
— those constant, and innumerable, and fascinating courtiers 
which surround the resplendent Majesty of heaven, as con- 
firmed and illustrated by a variety of declarative facts and 
striking circumstances recorded in the scriptures of the Old 
and New Testament. 

Under this head it may not be inexpedient to premise and 
interpose the expostulation, — that the visions, which to the 
experience of the patriarchs, the prophets, the apostles, the 
evangelists, and the primitive disciples of Christianity which 
have preceded or attended the instrumentality of angelic 
operations, must be received by the mind, unencumbered by 
sinister reservations or suppositions, referring them to ficti- 
ous representations, as opposed to positive and veritable 
realities ; for many unestablished, in the biblical reception 
of divine and revealed truth, by reason of the superficiality 
of their faith, are apt to consider that those marvellous ex- 
hibitions of omnipotent purpose, and prophecies of gracious 
promise performed by angelic agency, of which they read in 
the Bible, are to be regarded as the mere imagery, the gor- 



130 



ATTRIBUTES AND CHARACTERISTICS . 



geous drapery of a dream, the shadowy apparitions of opti- 
cal illusion, because, forsooth, of the difficulty with which 
they realise to themselves the actual existence of incorporeal 
or spiritual beings ; usually applying the term vision, in a 
sense and manner contrary to its scriptural and intended 
import — virtually interpreting the epithet as something in- 
tangible or not seen — a mental phantasmagoria, unreal, and 
easily produced by a disordered state of the bodily functions, 
affecting with a sympathetic morbidity, the workings of a 
distempered brain. Such an anti-christian conclusion no 
sincere believer in the declarations of an unimpeachable In- 
spiration can, for an instant, admit or venture upon ; though 
many are inclined to suppose that what the inspired writers 
have described of what they have beheld and witnessed of 
angelic beings and their miraculous interpositions, must be 
understood as a sort of allegorical representation — a vehicle 
for conveying to the mental perceptions of mortals, the designs 
and purposes of the Divine will. With these phantomising 
interpretations we entertain no sympathy, and therefore be- 
lieve on the sacred authority of immutable and eternal truth, 
that Daniel really saw with his bodily eyes the angels of 
God, as also the stationed keepers at our Lord's sepulchre, 
and the inquiring disciples after the resurrection of Christ 
from the entombment of the grave, as in like manner we 
shall all behold them when they attend the Redeemer's 
second advent to earth, as He comes in " the glory of his 
Father," surrounded by the splendid retinue of " holy 
angels," amidst the inconceivable agitations and awful 
solemnities of the judgment-day, at the assize of an assem- 
bled universe ! 

That God, if he please, can hold intercourse with his 
chosen servants without the intermediate agency of. angelic 
interference, is proved by several instances interspersed 



ATTRIBUTES AND CHARACTERISTICS. 131 



throughout the Scriptures, but in some cases it has been His 
pleasure to employ one or more of the heavenly hosts in his 
communications with sinful humanity, and who has also 
commanded his witnesses to record such supernatural and 
superhuman interpositions for man's instruction and hope, 
encouragement and comfort. And assuredly we owe it to 
our Divine Teacher, to receive with the gratitude of reve- 
rential humility and undoubting credence, what Deity has 
vouchsafed to reveal to us of the disinterested cheerfulness 
with which benevolent angels are always ready to promote 
the spiritual welfare and temporal interests of those who 
put their trust in Jehovah, and repose implicit confidence in 
the assurances of divine promises ; persuaded that not one 
thing contained in Holy Writ, dare we with impunity, pre- 
sumptuously attempt to alter or impugn, which has been 
given by the Inspiration of God, and most profitable for 
doctrine , for reproof for correction , for instruction in 
righteousness , — and that to receive such a book of divine 
origin, as a volume of riddles, enigmas or allegories, and not 
as a clear and comprehensive declaration of what we are to 
believe, as well as what we are to do, would be a palpable 
violation of the dictates of sober reason, as well as an egre- 
gious infringement of the precepts of an acquiescent faith. 
For thus saith the Lord, — is the solemn Amen of truth 

IMMORTAL AND ETERNAL. * 

* Could we better^ understand the angelical nature, properties, and perfec- 
tion, and what converse and intercourse of these spirits is one with the 
other, and with God, how they love and praise him, and how He commu- 
nicates himself to them, we should have more worthy and awful thoughts 
of God, the Maker and Lord of them, — we should have more worthy 
thoughts of His power, wisdom, and greatness. Nor should we so easily 
question his goodness, as now we do. When we hear of God's severity de- 
clared against ungodly ones, we are ready to say, Where is the goodness of 
God if he will send the greatest part of men to hell, to be eternally torment- 



132 ATTRIBUTES AND CHARACTERISTICS . 



Consistently with our previous intimation, our intention 
is, to adhere closely to the evidence presented to, and en- 
forced upon, our consideration, by the several descriptive 
statements furnished in the Bible, respecting the astonishing 
and surpassing qualifications, and those noble and intellectual 
faculties with which the holy angels are endowed, and by 
which they are empowered to accomplish the behests of Je- 
hovah, according to those special purposes of providence 
and grace, for the execution of which they have been dele- 
gated. In Genesis iii. 24, where angels are first mention- 
ed under the title of cherubim, we learn they were dis- 
patched, and divinely appointed to keep watch and guard at 
the passage of the garden of Eden, to prevent any endeavor, 
by the disobedient and fallen parents of mankind, of mak- 
ing the attempt for a re -entrance, being armed with the 
majesty of a most terrific splendor, and the dreadful ap- 
pearance of the glittering brandishings of a sword of flaming 
fire ; reflecting a glory, which, according to ancient Jewish 
interpretation, probably furnished the archetype of the She- 
chinah, first, in the tabernacle in the wilderness, and after- 
wards in Solomon's magnificent temple. With this character- 
istic grandeur and awfulness, have angels frequently appear- 
ed to, and disappeared from, mortal vision. The angel that 
descended to roll away the stone (a large fragment of rock), 
placed at the entrance of our Saviour's supulchre, presented 
the personal spectacle of such a superhuman and ethereal 
appearance, as to overpower with aflrighied terror, the 
Roman guard, who trembled and became as dead men : — 
"for his countenance was like lightning , and his raiment 

ed ? Alas ! God has myriads of creatures to glorify his goodness on, beside 
those few mortals whose dwelling is on earth. There is a world of angels 
as well as of men. Oh ! glorify the God of angels, magnify Him. . 

Pneumatologia, 1701. 



ATTRIBUTES AJSTD CHARACTERISTICS. 



133 



white as snow ; and for fear of him the keepers became as 
dead men." " And I saw" declares St. John, " another 
mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a 
cloud, and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was 
as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire." An- 
gels, beside the splendor of their appearance, are also en- 
dowed with amazing power, forcibly indicated by the names 
of might and power, which, in several places of the Scrip- 
tures, are ascribed to them, and further established by the 
corroborative testimony of the Psalmist, where King David, 
inviting the choral celebration of heaven and earth, bursts 
forth into the jubilant exclamation : Bless the Lord ye his 
angels that excel in strength ! A strong angel, and a 
mighty angel, in the Apocalypse, are expressive and ev- 
idential of the same truth. Their great power is still 
further manifested by reference to those extraordinary 
achievements which they have performed in the execution of 
the Divine commission. The destruction of the first-born 
of Egypt was the work of an angel. Two angels over- 
threw the abandoned cities of the plain — Sodom and Go- 
morrah, smiting its guilty and profligate inhabitants with 
instantaneous blindness. An angel destroyed, in three 
days, three score and ten thousand persons out of Judah 
and Israel, in consequence of the sin of David in numbering 
the people. An angel slew, in a single night, of the army 
of Sennacherib, an hundred four score and five thousand 
men. In the Revelation of St. John, the irresistible po- 
tency of angels is represented by their holding and restrain- 
ing the four winds of heaven ; and as executing, in a long 
series, the successive judgments of God upon this evil world. 
In the twentieth chapter of the Apocalypse, a single angel 
is represented as binding that fierce, strong, and malignant 
spirit the dragon, that old serpent, the Devil, the prince of 



134 ATTRIBUTES AND CHARACTERISTICS. 



the power of the air, who has so extensively and dreadfully 
distressed this sinful and unhappy world, as casting him 
into the bottomless pit, and setting a seal upon him, bind- 
ing him with a chain, that he should deceive the na- 
tions no more, until the thousand years should be fulfilled. 
Instances and exemplifications these, of the strength and 
might belonging to no other intelligent creatures, and of 
which humanity can only form very inadequate conceptions. 

In 1 Chronicles xxi., what a splendid vision is there pre- 
sented to us. — A spiritual warrior with a drawn sword and 
outstretched arm, of surpassing strength, glorious brightness, 
and probably of prodigious magnitude, standing in mid-air, 
extended over the holy city of Jerusalem, which lay in 
beauty and repose beneath an evening sky. This is one of 
the glimpses afforded us of what is perpetually passing 
around us, but which our eyes are holden from seeing. We 
speak of casualties, of epidemics, of contagious disorders, 
but we regard not the hand that with unerring fidelity deals 
forth each mysterious dispensation, directed by the appoint- 
ment of the Almighty Lord and Maker of heaven and earth. 
The same absurd and presumptuous disregard to the de- 
lineations of the Bible has clothed evil spirits with fan- 
tastically frightful grimaces and grotesque figures, and 
also invested the holy angels with a puerile childish- 
ness of appearance, w T holly at variance with every scrip- 
tural representation. Baby faces between a pair of bird's 
wings, destitute of bodies ; slender girls with long and flow- 
ing ringlets, and the appendage of pinions well feathered 
with silvery plumes, — these are the imaginary and incon- 
sistent similitudes of things in heaven, which we are inter- 
dicted and warned from representing in such material shapes 
and fanciful apparitions to our minds, so palpably destitute 
of that terrible grandeur and ethereal glory with which God 



ATTRIBUTES AND CHARACTERISTICS. 



135 



has invested those illustrious and beautiful ambassadors of 
his rainbow throne and imperial sovereignty. 

Our conceptions respecting the potential attributes of an- 
gelic beings may be yet further greatly assisted by a refer- 
ence to those illustrative and surprising objects, selected 
from the natural history of the Scriptures, as described 
with such superlative sublimity in the Book of Job, where 
God, when answering the humbled patriarch out of the 
whirlwind, sets before him a few of the representatives of 
his Omnipotence, illustrated in the creatures of his work- 
manship. " The ocean, with its proud waves, and secret 
springs, its garment of clouds and swaddling band of thick 
darkness ; the war-ho'rse, with his neck clothed in thunder, 
pawing in the valley and rejoicing in his strength, mocking 
at fear, and swallowing the ground with fierceness and rage; 
Behemoth, drinking up a river, and trusting that he can 
draw up Jordan into his mouth, whose bones are like brass 
and iron; Leviathan, making the deep to boil like a pot f 9 
— these are the handiworks of the Almighty, on which He 
bids the patriarch to meditate, as exhibitions of His majesty 
and glory ; nor can it admit of a sober doubt that Jehovah 
invests his celestial hosts with still more stupendous powers, 
whilst waging constant battle with the myriads of apostate 
spirits which environ and besiege the redeemed children of 
faith and obedience — the heirs of salvation. 

Another distinguishing attribute of the angelic nature is 
their astonishing activity, referred to by the Psalmist, civ. 
4, and cited by the apostle in Hebrews i. 7 : Who mak- 
eth his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire. 
The word in this passage rendered spirits, usually signifies 
winds. In either sense the phraseology forcibly implies 
the remarkable velocity of the beings described by it, who 
are represented as moving with the swiftness of the winds, 



136 



ATTRIBUTES AND CHARACTERISTICS. 



and operating with the irresistible energy of fire. The same 
doctrine is emphatically inculcated in the frequent attribu- 
tion of many wings to the cherubim and seraphim, and 
other orders of angels ; and although the language is sym- 
bolical, yet its intention is very apparent, as significant of the 
celerity, and the alacrity with which they fulfil the missions of 
divine command. The following narrative in the prophet 
Daniel, exhibits this position with peculiar and unrivalled 
force. Chapter ix. verse 3 and 20-23 — And I set my 
face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplica- 
tion, with fasting, and sackcloth and ashes. And while I 
was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin, and 
the sins of my people Israel, and presenting my supplica- 
tion before the Lord my God, for the holy mountain 
of my God ; Yea while I was yet speaking in prayer, 
even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision 
at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched 
me about the time of the evening oblation. And he 
informed me, and talked with me, and said, 0 Daniel, 
I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. 
At the beginning of thy supplication, the commandment 
came forth ; and I am come to show thee ; for thou art 
greatly beloved ; therefore understand the matter and con- 
sider the vision. From this remarkable story, we learn 
that some time in the day, Daniel set himself to seek the 
Lord in fasting and prayer; that after his prayer was be- 
gun, the commandment was given to Gabriel, to explain to 
him the vision and the prophecy. In verses 20 and 21, we 
are told, that Gabriel came to him, while he was speaking ; 
that this was his evening prayer ; and that during the time, in 
which he was employed in uttering his prayer, Gabriel came 
from the supreme heaven to this world. This is a rapidity 
exceeding all the comprehension of the most active imagina- 



ATTRIBUTES AND CHARACTERISTICS . 137 



tion, surpassing beyond comparison, the amazing swiftness 
of light. Light, we know, is several years in coming from 
such fixed stars, as are visible to the eye of mortals. But 
there is reason to believe, that the Heaven of Heavens is 
at a much greater distance than those stars ; so as, not im- 
probably, to be a Heaven to them, as the starry firmament 
is to us. The poet, therefore, is justified by this wonder- 
ful fact in that cogent expression : — 

" The speed of Gods (angels) time counts not. ?? 

No stronger exhibition can be required or presented, of 
the rapidity of these celestial beings.* 

Another peculiar and distinguishing attribute with which 
angels are endued, is their unfading and immortal youth. 
This peculiarity is beautifully pointed out by the name 
living ones, applied to them by St. John, in the Apocalypse, 
and by Ezekiel in his first chapter, as well as in several 
parts of his prophecy. By this appellation we are instruct- 
ed, that life is a pre-eminent and glorious constituent of 
their nature — life as a peculiar property, and in a most dis- 
tinguishing degree ; the most perfect manifestation of that 
quickening energy which Christ ascribes to the Father, and 
challenges to himself, as an. exclusive, appropriate, and 
wonderful attribute of the Godhead. 

The truth of the immortality of the angels is also beauti- 
fully exemplified and confirmed by the adolescent appearance 

Yet, notwithstanding the incogitable force and dexterity of spirits, the 
theologists are of opinion that they are not of power to destroy any one ele- 
ment, or to pervert that constant order by which the fabric of the world is 
guided and governed. Yet of their incredible celerity and strength, histories 
are very frequent, both in the sacred Scriptures and elsewhere. We read 
that the angel of the Lord took the prophet Habakkuk (as he was carrying 
meat unto the reapers) by the hair of his head, and in the strength of the 
spirit, in an instant transported him from India to Babylon. — Heywood's 
Hierarchic 

7 



13S 



ATTRIBUTES AXD CHARACTERISTICS . 



of those which were seen by Mary, in the tomb of Christ. 
These illustrious individuals were then, at least, four thou- 
sand years old ; still they had the appearance of young men ; 
and in all that long succession of ages, had not undergone 
the slightest indications of decay. Their youth, a bright 
and beautiful blossom, still shone with all its lustre and 
fragrance ; and directly indicated that it was superior both 
to accident and time ; and would, after many such flights of 
years, survive in all its undiminished vigor. Even this rep- 
resentation may probably, after all, be only an imperfect 
adumbration. The youth of angels, like their other attri- 
butes, is destined to refine, improve, and brighten forever. 

This distinguishing and exalting feature of the angelical na- 
ture — their immortality, — was strikingly pointed out, by the 
Great Teacher, during his sojourn upon the earth, whilst he 
" tabernacled in the flesh when He disconcerted, by the 
divinity of his answer, — as the Creator and Lord of angels, 
— the captious inquiry and curious question propounded by 
the infidel Sadducees, respecting the hypothetical marriage 
of a woman with seven husbands, — " whose wife she should 
be in the resurrection V to which our Savior replied, that 
those who should be counted worthy to obtain admission 
into heaven, icould neither marry nor be given in mar- 
riage ; neither can they die any more ; for they would be 
equal to the angels, and are the children of God, being the 
children of the resurrection, subject to none of the changes, 
and decays, and vicissitudes incidental to this mortal state, 
where death reigns, and marriages are requisite to sup- 
ply the vacancies arising from the ravages of mortality — 
and therefore necessary to prevent the entire extinction and 
extirpation of the human family ; but in the celestial king- 
dom, the redeemed of mankind will resemble the angels of 
God, glorious, unchangeable, and immortal, — resplendent in 



ATTBLBTTTES AND CHARACTERISTICS. 



139 



the presence of Jehovah, and beatified in the eternal en- 
joyment of an unalterable felicity and unfading glory. 

Another prominent, most distinguishing and superlatively 
attractive attribute of the angelical constitution is the sur- 
prising and inconceivable extent of their knowledge and in- 
telligence^ arising from their proximity to the overflowing 
and inexhaustible fountain of Divine wisdom and benevo- 
lence, — their closer and concomitant insight into the plans 
and purposes of Jehovah, as connected with the sovereign 
dispensations of his providence and the mysterious economy 
of redeeming grace. 

Doubtless, too, they have a great familiarity with our 
thoughts and desires, circumstances and moral necessities, 
and are delegated from the up-lifted throne of the Most High, 
to render us important and needful aid in the services and 
excursions of our faith, the prayers and aspirations of peni- 
tential supplication, and the retired meditations of a con- 
templative devotion,* being also well acquainted with the 
favorites of heaven, as evidenced in the prophet Daniel, the 
greatly beloved^ on whose behalf they restrained the ferocity 
of the ravenous lions into whose den the prophet had 
been cast, by the impious and irrevocable decree of King 
Darius, f 

Amongst the ancient Jews, whose religious belief ear- 
nestly embraced and vindicated the doctrine of the existence 

^ How gentle are the footsteps of angels! How tender their touch! 
How soft their whispers ! How courteous their hints to dull and weary 
pilgrims in the wilderness ! — Ambrose. Communion and Ministry of An- 
gels, 1664. 

f He had other company than the ravenous beasts, who were thus chained 
back into the innocuous character they sustained in the garden of Eden, and 
to which they shall again be restored, when the conqueror of death and sin 
comes to reign over a renovated earth. — Charlotte Elizabeth. Princi- 
palities and Powers. 



140 



ATTRIBUTES AND CHARACTERISTICS. 



and ministry of angels, the high estimation with which they 
regarded the exalted and intellectual prerogatives of these 
magisterial and celestial beings, is clearly indicated by the 
proverbial expressions and sayings which were in general 
use amongst them ; illustrated in the stratagem and flat- 
tery of the wise women of Tekoah to King David. For 
as an angel of God, so is my lord the king, to discover 
good and bad ; and my lord is wise, according to the wis- 
dom of an angel of God, to know all things that are upon 
the earth. — 2 Sam. xix. 17-20. Nevertheless, our knowl- 
edge, even with the aid afforded us, by the partial disclosures 
of Revelation, are very limited respecting the vast knowl- 
edge, sinless purity, and expansive benevolence, of these af- 
fable and amiable Immortals, either in relation to each 
other, or to beings in the far off regions, and distant em- 
pires of the universe. The ennobling superiority of sagacity 
and wisdom possessed by angels has been duly noticed and 
largely expatiated upon in the exegesis of theologians, the 
disquisitions of the philosopher, the breathing thoughts and 
burning words of profane and sacred Poesy. The learned 
and eminent expositor, Greenhill, in his Commentary on 
Ezekiel, observes, " That the prophet was guided by the 
spirit, and his cherubim hold forth the same parties to us, 
that Isaiah's seraphim did to him. They had the likeness 
of a man, verse 5. By their likeness to a man, is laid 
before us, the rationality, knowledge, and understanding of 
angels. They are the most understanding creatures in 
heaven and earth. They have prophetical knowledge in 
them, and a treasury of things that are past and done long 
since. There is mention, Rev. iv. 6, 8, of four living crea- 
tures, the same with those of Ezekiel, full of eyes before 
and behind, because they see and know what is past, and 
what is before them ; their natural knowledge is great, 



ATTRIBUTES A2TD CHAEACTERISTICS. 141 



being such excellent spirits. But besides that, they have 
much revealed to them concerning God, Christ, the church, 
and things contingent. Hence it is said, 1 Peter i. 2, 
which things the angels desire to look into. They under- 
stand partly by their essence, and partly by special com- 
munications to their understanding, as to ours. Angels 
are good philosophers ; they know the principles, causes, 
effects, life, motion, death of natural things. — Rev. vii. 1, 
2. They are great statists/ and know the affairs of king- 
doms. — Dan. x. 13. Gabriel saith : I remained with the 
kings of Persia ; he became a courtier, and acquainted 
himself with the affairs of Persia. 

In his truly eloquent and thrilling discourses on this in- 
teresting and engaging subject, Dr. Dwight admirably repre- 
sents the high intelligence of angels as one of the most 
distinguishing features which adorn the character of these 
bright, and noble, and heavenly beings., observing that 
" Angels are endowed with the greatest intellectual facul- 
ties , and of course are possessed of knowledge superior to 
that of any other created beings. This character is repre- 
sented to us in the Scriptures in many forms. The Living 
ones mentioned by the apostle John, in the Book of Revela- 
tions, are declared to have been full of eyes within ; that 
is, to have been all sense, all intellect, all consciousness, 
turning their attention every way, beholding all at once all 
things within the reach of their understandings, and dis- 
cerning them with a clearness of perception which is the 
most perfect created semblance of the intuitive and bound- 
less views of the Omniscient Mind. 

u The face also of a man, attributed to one of these 
illustrious beings by St. John, and to all those which ap- 
peared to Ezekiel by that prophet, is another ascription of 
this character to angels. The face of a man was amongst 



142 



ATTRIBUTES AXD CHARACTERISTICS. 



the Jews and other eastern nations, the standing symbol of 
Intelligence, and denotes here the superior possession of this 
attribute by those to -whom it is ascribed. 

" Angels were originally formed with an entire freedom 
from sin, the only source of prejudice, and the chief source 
of errors. Their faculties were at first such as became 
the morning stars of the highest heavens, — the sons of 
God intended to surround the throne of Jehovah, and to 
hold the chief places of power, distinction, and glory, in 
his eternal kingdom. They were such as to become those 
to whom, in the beginning, was given by God himself, the 
name of Cherub, or fulness of knowledge. 

u They were such, in a word, as to become their other 
transcendent attributes of power, youth, activity, and the 
exalted station which they were destined to fill forever. 
With the nature and extent of their faculties, has the place 
of their residence exactly accorded. They have ever dwelt 
in the world where truth reigns without opposition — where 
knowledge is the universal state and character — where all 
mysteries are continually disclosed — and where the nature 
and propriety of both the means and the ends of Providence 
are, more than in any other part of the universe, unfolded. 
There, day and night, for six thousand years, they have been 
unceasingly employed in studying the works of God. Wea- 
riness and decay they know not. Strength of understand- 
ing in them is incapable of being impaired. Every object 
of investigation is to them delightful, and every faculty by 
its nature susceptible of improvement. What then must be 
the extent of their attainments at the present time 1 

u Beyond this, the favor of God is extended to them in 
a degree incomprehensible by such minds as ours. To 
communicate just and extensive views of his works to these 
glorious beings, is declared to be Jehovah's especial intent in 



ATTRIBUTES AND CHARACTERISTICS. 



143 



the creation of tilings by Jesus Christ (Eph. iii. 9, 10), and 
peculiarly his manifold wisdom in his dispensations to the 
church. No communication on his part, and no attainments 
on theirs, can be imagined too great for this divine purpose, 
or the goodness by which it was formed. In Matt. xxiv. 
36, our Savior declares that of that day^ not the day of his 
coming to the destruction of Jerusalem, knoweth no one, not 
even the angels in heaven. This appeal, if we understand 
the passage in the common acceptation, can have force and 
pertinenc}", only on the supposition that nothing which is 
known of the works and ways of God is hidden from angels, 
and is, therefore, a complete proof of the entire superiority 
of their intellectual nature and attainments to those of any 
other created being." 

Various writers, differing in the calibre and dimensions of 
their minds, or ascending in the loftier flights of their ima- 
ginations, have been attracted into animated descriptions of 
this ennobling and surpassing distinction of the angelical 
nature. The Rev. John Wesley with admirable point sug- 
gests, u What an inconceivable degree of wisdom must they 
have acquired, by the use of their amazing faculties, over 
and above that with which they were originally endued, in 
the course of more than six thousand years !" That they 
have existed so long we are assured ; for they u sang to- 
gether when the foundations of the earth were laid." How 
immensely must their wisdom have increased during so long 
a period, not only by surveying the hearts and ways of men 
in their successive generations, but by observing the works 
of God, — his works of creation, his works of providence, 
his works of grace ! and above all, by continually beholding 
the face of their Father who is in heaven. 

The actual possession and abundant advantages of 
such means for advancing their intellectual acquisitions, 



144 ATTRIBUTES AJsD CHAEACTERISTICS. 



is thus presented by Dr. Chalmers in his " Astronomi- 
cal Discourses : " God walked with our first parents in 
the garden of Paradise, and there did the angels hold their 
habitual converse ;* and should unblotted innocence, which 
charmed and attracted these superior beings to the haunts of 
Eden, be perpetuated in every planet but our own, then 
might each of them be the scene of high and heavenly com- 
munications, and an open way for the messengers of God be 
kept up with them all, and their inhabitants be admitted to 
a share in the themes and contemplations of angels, and 
have their spirits exercised on those things of which we are 
told that the angels desire to look into them ; and thus, as 
we talk of the public mind of a city, or the public mind of 
an empire — by the well-frequented avenues of a free and 
ready circulation, a public mind might be formed through- 
out the whole extent of God's sinless and intelligent creation 
— and just as we read of the eyes of all Europe being turned 
to one spot where some affair'of eventful importance is going 
on, there might be the eyes of a whole universe turned to 
the one world, where rebellion against the Majesty of Hea- 
ven had planted its standard ; and for the re-admission of 
which, within the circle of his fellowship, God, whose justice 
was inflexible, but whose mercy he had, by some plan of 
mysterious wisdom, made to rejoice over it, was putting 
forth all the might, and travelling in all the greatness of the 
attributes which belonged to him. 5 ' 

In the overtures of Divine compassion and the provisions 
of Almighty grace, holy angels are invariably represented 
as exercising a most deep and ardent solicitude, as connect- 
ed with the salvation of mankind, wrought out in the 

=* Lord King, in his Morsels of Criticisms, expresses the idea, that some pe^ 
riod will arrive, when the communications of earth and heaven will be visi- , 
hie, and the angels of God descend and ascend to converse with men, 



ATTRIBUTES AXD CHARACTERISTICS. 



145 



Redemption effected by the Cross of Christ. The Scotch 
divine further observes, " It is an impressive circumstance, 
that when Moses and Elias made a visit to our Savior on 
the Mount of Transfiguration, and appeared in glory from 
Heaven, the topic they brought along with them, and with 
which they were fraught, was the decease he was going to 
accomplish at Jerusalem. And however insipid the things 
of our salvation may be to an earthly understanding, we are 
made to know, that in the sufferings of Christ and the glory 
which should follow, there is matter to attract the notice of 
celestial spirits ; for these are the very " things," says the 
Bible, "which the angels desire to look into." And how r - 
ever listless we, the dull and grovelling children of an exiled 
family, may feel about the perfections of the Godhead, and 
the display of those perfections in the economy of the gos- 
pel ; it is intimated to us in the book of God's message, 
that the creation has its districts and its provinces ; and 
we accordingly read of " thrones, and dominions, and prin- 
cipalities, and powers ;" and whether the terms denote se- 
parate regions of government, or the beings who, by a 
commission granted from the sanctuary of heaven, sit in 
delegated authority over them, — even in their eyes the mys- 
tery of Christ stands arrayed in all the splendor of unsearch- 
able riches ; for we are told that this mystery was revealed 
for the very intent " that unto the principalities and powers 
in heavenly places, might be made known, by the church, 
the manifold wisdom of God." 

As a minor, yet additional confirmation of the exalted 
and transcendent intelligence of angels, we produce the 
apposite allusions of apostolic averment respecting the utter 
inutility of the most splendid mental endowments, as well 
as the denounced inefficiency of the penetrative sagacity of 
an intellectual philosophy, or the oratorial eloquence of a 
7* 



146 ATTRIBUTES A3TD C HA RACTERISTICS. 



persuasive rhetoric, in lieu of the enlightened apprehensions 

of an evangelical faith to understand the economy of grace 
in the realized blessings of Redemption : — Though I speak 
with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not cha- 
rity, I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling symbol. 
And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand 
all mysteries and all knowledge, and have not charity, I 
am nothing. — 1 Cor. xiii. 1, 2. But though we, or an 
angel from heaven^ preach any other Gospel unto you 
than ice have preached unto you, let him be accursed. 
Gal. i. 8. 

With augmented attractiveness, our subject now invites 
us to consider — though within too circumscribed a limit — 
the ennobling and radiant characteristics which adorn and 
magnify the angelical nature. And as the firm foundation, 
surest safeguard, and impregnable citadel of the unfading 
and immortal excellencies of the angelical character we pre- 
sent to prominent view, their confirmed and consummate holi- 
ness. Throughout the Scriptures, instances are multiform, 
and the evidence is abundant confirmatory of this delightful 
and exalting truth. Holiness is the well-spring from whence 
unceasingly flow the crystal streams of their beauty, their 
morality, their sensibilities, and their unalloyed pleasures. 
These elements ■ and attributes of moral excellence and 
celestial happiness are derived from this virtue which con- 
stitutes the imperishable beauty of the mind, and is as 
superior to the exterior grace of the body as the spirituality 
of the soul is superior to the earthy tabernacle in which she 
resides. Virtue is the essential beauty and unfailing felicity 
of the heavenly world ; and while it engrosses the attach- 
ment and the homage of angels themselves, is regarded with 
entire complacency by its divine author. In virtue, accord- 
ing to the decision of mankind, sinful as they are, is placed 



ATTRIBUTES AND CHARACTERISTICS . 



147 



the moral grandeur and loveliness of intelligent beings, — 
that which unbiassed reason approves ; which is always ex- 
cellent ; w r hich is uniformly the object of delight ; which will 
never change ; and which will never cease to be desired. 
This peculiar and distinguishing feature in the angelical 
character will be better understood and enhanced in its 
glory by the contrasted effects of its opposite principle, which 
occasioned the apostaey of the fallen angels, revealed and 
described in the apocalypse by St. John : And there was 
war in heaven : Michael and his angels fought against 
the dragon ; and the dragon fought and his angels. 

" Fallen Angels were once possessed of this illustrious 
attribute, and held the exalted station, which is now exclusive- 
ly enjoyed by their fellows. Fallen angels are still possessed, 
in an eminent degree, of power, life, activity and knowl- 
edge ; but they yielded up their holiness, when they revolted 
from their Maker ; and changed forever their character and 
their destiny, by sinning against God. Sin converted them 
into fiends, and made hell their habitation. From sin, 
that dark and dreadful world derives all its gloom, sorrow, 
and despair. Sin ushered it into being ; raised its prison 
walls ; barred its iron gates ; shrouded its desolate regions 
in the blackness of darkness ; kindled the fires by which it 
is gloomily enlightened, and awakened all the cries, and 
groans, and curses, and blasphemies, which echo through 
its regions of sorrow. Sin changed angels, once surround- 
ing the throne, and harmonizing in the praise of God, into 
liars, accusers, calumniators, adversaries, and destroyers. 
How amazing and dreadful the change ! How loathsome, 
how detestable, the spirit by which it was accomplished !" 

" The mighty difference between Heaven and earth, an- 
gels and men, lies in holiness and sin.* Angels are holy ; 

* Sin made a sad and lamentable breach, both between God and men, and 



148 ATTEIBUTES AND CHARACTEEISTICS. 



we are sinful : their residence is happy ; ours, in many re- 
spects, wretched. This world was originally formed to be a 
delightful habitation ; and at the close of creation, was by 
God himself pronounced to be very good. Man was once 
immortal and happy ; because he was just, kind, sincere, 
humble and pious. What has the world, what has man, 
gained by the change 1 The afflicting answer may be sum- 
med up in a word. God made the earth a beautiful image 
of heaven ; man, by his apostacy, has changed it into no ob- 
scure resemblance of hell. God made man a little lower 
than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honor. 
Man, being in honor, abode not, but became like the beasts 
that perish."* 

As a glorious manifestation of this principle in the con- 
stitution of the angelical character, obedience, is a conspicu- 
ous virtue, whereby they fulfil, with an alacrity, represented 
in the expressive imagery of a flash of lightning, the gra- 
cious purposes, as well as punitive procedures of the Di- 
vine Will. 

" Some may think it needs be to the angels loss to leave 
heaven and God's presence there, to follow business in this 
lower world and wait upon man ; but no such matter. 
They count it no loss to follow their master's work where- 
ever it lie.f Neither is there an instance throughout the 
Bible, where an angel appears to have acted independently 

between men and angels too, yea, and between them and all creatures. — 

Pneimiatologia. 

Dr. Dwight, (late President of Yale College, New Haven, Connecti- 
cut, U. S.) from whose masterly and eloquent discourses in his System of 
Theology, on this superlatively beautiful subject, I acknowledge, once for all, 
that I have freely borrowed ; and no writer that I have had the opportunity 
to consult equals him, either in the felicity of his diction, the force of his 
ratiocination, or the fertility of his chastened imagination. G. C. 

f Pneumatologia. 



ATTRIBUTES A3D CHARACTERISTICS. 



149 



of the divine command. Perfect submission to the autho- 
rity, and cheerful performance of the behests of Jehovah, 
is the unvaried and exemplary character of the heavenly 
hosts. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, in our 
Savior's comprehensive formula of prayer, is declarative of 
the joyous subordination which reigns with supreme har- 
mony in the kingdom of heaven, and that encircles the 
throne of Deity. Bless the Lord, ye his angels, that do his 
commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word, ye 
ministers of his that do his pleasure, exclaims the devout 
Psalmist, with the admiring emotions of expostulatory 
praise. 

Another most attractive feature in the formation of the 
angelical character is their profound humility* and instruc- 
tive meekness. In these great and ennobling virtues, how 
affecting the contrast between sinful man and unfallen an- 
gels ; for though greatly exalted above mortals, the illus- 
trious inhabitants of the celestial world are unspotted by 
pride, and vanity, the root of sin, and the stem of bitterness. 
Haughtiness or vanity would instantly disrobe of all their 
comeliness and glory the blessed spirits of the upper sanctu- 
ary, and cause them to resemble the worst and most odious 
of all the creatures of God ! 

Who would not rather aspire to be clothed with the stain- 
less, spiritual, and never-fading robe of humility and right- 
eousness; — that faith, repentance, and love of the Gospel, 
which compose the embroidered garment, the fine linen of 

*■ Indeed there shines in them such a brightness of the majesty of God, 
that there is nothing in which men might be more easily drawn, than with 
a certain admiration, to fall down in worshipping them. This very thing, 
St. John, in the Revelation, confesseth of himself, but he added withal, that 
he received this answer, " See thou do it not, for I am thy fellow-servant, 
and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus : worship God. ;; — Am- 
brose, Communion and Ministry of Angels. 



150 ATTRIBUTES AND CHARACTERISTICS. 



the saints, wrought and made -white in the heavens ;— that 
best and beautiful robe with which, in his father's house 
every repenting and returning prodigal will be appareled 
and adorned. 

How beautifully are the humility and meekness, and 
obedience of angels exemplified in the thrilling parable of 
Dives and Lazarus, " presenting to our view a choir of these 
illustrious and sympathising beings leaving the glory of 
Heaven, and directing their flight to this forlorn and sinful 
earth, to accompany and escort the departing spirit of 
poor, despised, forgotten Lazarus, to the world of happi- 
ness and love ; to point the way to that delightful region ; 
and to aid his trembling wing to the house and presence of 
his Father and his God. What monarch, what noble, what 
gentleman, what plain man would, willingly, have even at- 
tended his funeral ? Who would have received him, w T hen 
alive, into his house, powerfully as his sufferings pleaded 
for relief % Who, much more, would have consented to be- 
come his companion ? Who, still more, would have ac- 
knowledged himself his friend % Yet all this, angels did 
not disdain. 

Let us take to ourselves shame and confusion of face at 
the remembrance of our pride of feeling and haughtiness of 
heart. How often do w T e despise, neglect, insult, and tram- 
ple under foot the disciples of Christ, — those who, in the 
sight of God, are far better than ourselves ! For what do 
we despise them? Because, perhaps, their houses, their 
persons, their dress, their wealth, or their talents are in- 
ferior to our own. We might, indeed, sometimes pity them 
for these reasons, and be justified. But where shall we 
find an excuse for despising them?"* 

But the most fascinating and radiant lineament in the 

* Dr. Dwight. 



ATTETBTJTES AND CHARACTERISTICS. 



151 



portraiture of the angelical character, is, their unbounded 
and affectionate benevolence ; — love, an essential adjunct 
of their nature, — the atmosphere of their existence, — their 
nearest approach to the most glorious of the attributes of that 
Supreme Being denominated the God of Love — the essence 
of Redemption — the especial provision in the novel and 
valedictory commandment of the Great Teacher, during the 
days of His humiliation, when He tabernacled u in the flesh 
for us men and our salvation," to his persecuted and discon- 
solate disciples recorded by St. John in his gospel, chap, 
xiii. 31, emphatically the apostle of love, — the inexhaustible 
fountain of terrestrial happiness and celestial felicity. The 
very foundation of meetness for the beatitude of heaven, 
must be laid in the principle of love, productive of a com- 
plete renovation in the moral faculties and sensibilities of 
humanity. 

The grand object which love proposes to accomplish, is 
the communication of happiness. There is not a more ami- 
able, attractive, or comprehensive idea of the Divine Being 
any where to be found than that which is exhibited by the 
apostle in three monosyllables — God is Love. He is the 
uncreated and eternal source of all felicity, from which flow 
the varied streams of joy which gladden the heart of angels 
and archangels, cherubim and seraphim. To manifest the 
exuberance of His benignity, the Almighty Creator willed 
into existence the material universe to serve as an immense 
theatre upon which to display to countless orders of sensi- 
tive and intellectual creatures, for their delight and com- 
fort, the diversified blessings of His unlimited and sponta- 
neous beneficence. 

The excellence of love, as a principle in the moral and 
intelligent system, bears a striking analogy to the law 
of attraction in physical nature. It draws into inti- 



152 ATTRIBUTES ASTD CHARACTERISTICS . 



mate fellowship and hallowed union all holy intelligences 
wherever dispersed, throughout the amplitudes of creation. 
It assimilates and unites man to God, to the angels and 
archangels— those glittering courtiers of heaven, the beau- 
tiful and beatified companions of our adorable Redeemer, 
Jesus Christ ! 

Of this distinguished and attractive loveliness of charac- 
ter angels are supremely possessed. " Angels are sincere, 
gentle, meek, kind, compassionate, and perfectly conformed 
to that great moral principle communicated in the word of 
our Lord, which he said : It is more blessed to give than 
to receive. This sublime excellence, incomparably more 
precious than gold which perishes, has in them been, from 
the beginning, debased with no alloy, tarnished with no 
spot, impaired by no length of years, and changed by no 
weakness or imperfection. Free from every defect, and 
every mixture, it has varied with length of years, merely 
towards higher and higher perfection, and shone not only 
with undiminished, but with increased beauty and lustre. 
There is no good which it is proper for angels to do, which 
they are not habitually prepared to do. There is no kind- 
ness capable of being suitably exercised by them which they 
do not in fact exercise. The more their faculties are en- 
larged, and the more their knowledge is increased, the more 
their means of usefulness is multiplied ; the more exalted 
is their excellence, the more disinterested and noble .their 
dispositions ; the more intense their benevolence, and the 
more lovely and beautiful their character ; the good which 
they have already done, has only prepared them to do more 
and greater good ; and the disposition with which it was done 
has only become stronger by every preceding exertion." 

Associated with this elevating and bland distinction, an- 
gels combine in their character those magnanimous and sub- 



ATTRIBUTES AND CHARACTERISTICS . 153 

limer virtues which constitute personal dignity and glory, 
tempered and refined by consummate humility, as connected 
with their intense love and undeviating apprehensions of 
divine truth. Truth, which consists in an account of the 
character and works of God, — subjects elevated above all 
height, and extended above all limits ; possessed of inherent 
grandeur and sublimity literally infinite ; fitted to awaken 
in every mind formed with an understanding to perceive, 
and a taste to relish them, great ideas and exalted concep- 
tions ; and calculated to inspire habits of thinking and feel- 
ing, of the most dignified nature. To these subjects angels 
have already devoted themselves throughout a vast period of 
time, with burning intensity and fervor. Their views have 
all been formed without error, decay, or weariness ; and their 
relish for the objects of their knowledge has only been 
strengthened by indulgence. Of course their progress in 
understanding has been rapid, and their attainments have 
been very great. Of course, also, their minds have been 
continually expanded and ennobled by all the conceptions 
which they have entertained concerning these wonderful 
subjects. 

With all the accumulated knowledge of their vast capaci- 
ties and early history, angels supremely rejoiced when they 
announced to our fallen, and sinful, and ruined race, the incar- 
nation of Christ — the mystery of godliness — redemption for 
a lost world ; for on that wondrous and nation-desired event, 
a multitude of the heavenly host sang Glory to God in the 
highest, and on earth peace, good-will to men, Luke ii. 
14 ; whilst our blessed Savior's declaration represents their 
delight on the recovery of a penitent from his way of sin 
and misery. " The conversion of sinners is the jubilation 
of angels — -heaven rings with the joy, and this plain sense 
or meaning of Christ's words, that when they see the ranks 



154 ATTRIBUTES AND CHARACTERISTICS . 



and files of lapsed angels filled with new recruits of men and 
women, penitent for their sins, this is matter of joy, of ec- 
statical joy to the holy angels of God. For there is joy in 
the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that re- 
penteth ; Luke xv. 10, as if every convert was an addition 
to their happiness. Whilst they praise God for such an in- 
stance of his goodness, they exult in the victory obtained 
over the powers of darkness, and in the enlargement of the 
Redeemer's kingdom. They receive the young believer 
under their care, being commissioned to watch over him for 
his protection and comfort. * 

" Angels have kind propensions towards men, especially 
good men, in this world, knowing these are of the same so- 
ciety and church with them; though the Divine Wisdom 
hath not judged it suitable to our present state of probation 
there should be an open and common intercourse between 
them and us. It is, however, a great incongruity that we 
should have strange, uncouth, shy, frightful or unfrequent 
thoughts of them in the mean time. We should bear our 
part in the joys of heaven; and when we are told there is 
joy there, among the angels of God, for the conversion of 
such, who are thereby but prepared to come to their assem- 
bly, we may conclude there is much for their glorification. f 

It is their delight to attend upon the saints. They know one day that 
they shall live together, and sing together, and rejoice together ; they know 
that the saints shall supply the room of the fallen angels, and when they 
meet, Oh ! the joy that will be betwixt them, knowing what Christ hath 
done and suffered for them. The mystery of godliness is seen of angels, 
yea, they are ravished in the very beholding of it, as a new and strange ob- 
ject ; they look into, saith Peter, — their whole spirits are taken up with it, as 
if it were the blessedest sight they could behold, and they are also ravished 
at the work of our Redemption ; how should they but with delight attend 
the redeemed ones of Jesus Christ. — Ambrose. 

^ Robinson — Scripture Characters. 

f Rev. John Howe. 



ATTRIBUTES AND CHARACTERISTICS . 



155 



" God is love, and he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in 
God, and God in him. 5 ' — 1 John iv. 16. Such is the testi- 
mony of the apostle regarding fallen men ; but it is at least 
equally true of the holy angels. " It doth not yet appear 
what we shall be," the same apostle states, " but we 
know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, 
for we shall see him as he is." — iii. 2. The vision of God 
transforms the character ; and what an influence must that 
vision have upon unfallen angels ? It is the present lot 
of the angels, that they behold the face of our Father in 
heaven, and it would seem as if the effect of this was to 
form and perpetuate in them the moral likeness of himself ; 
and that thus a diffused resemblance to the Godhead is kept 
up amongst all those adoring worshippers, who live in the 
near and rejoicing contemplation of the Godhead. Mark 
then 3 how that peculiar and endearing feature in the good- 
ness of the Deity, how beauteously it is reflected downwards 
upon us in the revealed attitude of angels ! From the high 
eminences of heaven are they bending a wakeful regard over 
the men of this sinful world, and the repentance of every 
one of them spreads a joy and a high gratulation throughout 
all its dwelling-places. Put this trait of the angelic char- 
acter into contrast with the dark and lowering spirit of an 
infidel. 

66 The infidel, with his mind afloat among suns and sys- 
tems, can find no place in his already-occupied regards for 
that humble planet which lodges and accommodates our 
species ; the angels, standing on a loftier summit, and with 
a mightier prospect of creation before them, are yet repre- 
sented as looking down on this single world, and attentively 
marking the every feeling, and the every demand of all its 
families. The infidel, by sinking us down to an unnotice- 
able minuteness, would lose sight of our dwelling-plaGe alto- 



156 ATTRIBUTES AOT) CHARACTERISTICS. 



gether, and spread a darkening shroud of oblivion over all 
the concerns and all the interests of men ; but angels Trill 
not so abandon us ; and, undazzled by the whole surpassing 
grandeur of that scenery which is around them, are they re- 
vealed as directing all the fulness of their regard to this our 
habitation, and casting a longing and benignant eye on our- 
selves and on our children. The infidel will tell us of those 
worlds which roll afar, and the number of which outstrips the 
arithmetic of the human understanding — and then, with the 
hardness of an unfeeling calculation, he will consign the one 
we occupy, with all its guilty generations, to despair. But 
he who counts the number of the stars, is set forth to us as 
looking at every inhabitant among the millions of our species, 
and the word of the Gospel beckoning to him with the hand 
of invitation, and on the very first of his return is moving 
towards him with all the eagerness of the prodigal's father, 
to receive him back again into that presence from which he 
had wandered. And as to this world, in favor of which the 
scowling infidel will not permit one solitary movement, all 
heaven is represented as astir about its restoration ; and 
there cannot a single son, or a single daughter, be recalled 
from sin unto righteousness, without an acclamation of joy 
among the hosts of Paradise. 

The expansive range of angelic benevolence extends far 
beyond the boundaries of human capacity and comprehen- 
sion. Angels have indeed a mighter reach of contempla- 
tion than can be comprehended by mortal ken. " Angels can 
look down upon this world and all it inherits, as the part of 
a large family. Angels were in the full exercise of their 
powers, even at the first infancy of our species, and shared 
in the gratulations of that period, when at the birth of hu- 
manity, all intelligent nature gave a gladdening response, 
and the morning stars sang together for joy. They loved us 



ATTRIBUTES AND CHARACTERISTICS . 



157 



with the love which a family on earth bears to a younger sis- 
ter ; and the very childhood of our tinier faculties did only 
serve the more to endear us to them ; and though born at a 
later hour in the history of creation, did they regard us 
heirs of the same destiny with themselves, to rise along with 
them in the scale of moral elevation, to bow at the same 
footstool, and to partake in those high dispensations of a 
parent's kindness, and a parent's care, which are ever ema- 
nating from the throne of the Eternal on all the members of 
a duteous and affectionate family. Take the reach of an 
angel's mind, but, at the same time, take the seraphic 
fervor of an angel's benevolence along with it, how, from 
the eminence on which he stands, he may have an eye upon 
many worlds, and a remembrance upon the origin and suc- 
cessive concerns of every one of them ; how he may feel the 
full flow of a most affecting relationship with the inhabitants of 
each, as the offspring of our common Father ; and though it 
be both the effect and the evidence of our depravity, that 
we cannot sympathise with these pure and generous ardors 
of a celestial spirit ; how it may consist with the lofty com- 
prehension, and the sweet breathing love of an angel, that 
he can both shoot his benevolence abroad over a mighty ex- 
panse of planets and of systems, and lavish a flood of ten- 
derness on each individual of their teeming population. " # 

Oh ! ye blessed spirits, by virtue of the untarnished per- 
ceptions of your cherubic knowledge, and the sympathy of 
your seraphic benignity ; full well ye understand, that af- 
fection, is no pretender ; grief, no sophist ; death, no 
solemn fallacy; the Bible no romance of cunningly-devised 
fables ; — the warnings of perdition, and the overtures of sal- 
vation, no superstitious delusions. Full well ye know that 

* Br. Chalmers, Astronomical Discourses. 



158 



ATTRIBUTES AND CHARACTERISTICS. 



ye have now struck, though with the gentlest touch, an 
iEolian string in that Harp of Sorrow, which ye found sus- 
pended on the weeping willow of afflictive bereavement ! 
That beloved one, the apparition of whose saintly form, oft 
I see, when entranced in the reveries of my day-dreams, and 
during the sleepless vigils of nocturnal vision, resembled ye 
in the adorning traits of your virtuous dispositions. Blessed 
spirits ! ye were no indifferent observers of the sacreclness of 
that parting hour, when after taking a farewell embrace of 
the darling object of her maternal solicitude, — the expressive 
type, and fragrant blossom of the rosy freshness of her un- 
varying love, prophesying from the loveliness of his infantile 
character, that he would not be long absent from her bosom 
— she softly wrapped around me the pure and radiant man- 
tle of her ardent affeGtion, whilst ye hovered around her dy- 
ing couch and whispered* to her believing spirit, preparing 
for its anxious flight, the assurance of divine favor, " Fear 
not, I am with thee" — awaiting the summons of her Savior, 
to waft her soul, upon the downy chariots of your swift and 
golden wings, to the unfading inheritance of the upper 
skies, as she ascended m faith, bright as the morning star ; 
in hope, serene as a summer's eve; in charity, joyous as 
the bliss, and seraphic as the love of heaven ; singing in 
strains which, to the sanctified ear of a scriptural anticipa- 
tion, are more ethereal, harmonious, and enrapturing than 
were ever warbled by the fabled and expiring melody of the 
classic and celestial Swan. 

* If the notes of distant music wafted on the air to the ear can reach and 
melt the heart and lift it from earth to heaven, as they often do, why can- 
not angelic whispers do the same ? If the sighing of every evening zephyr 
can move the strings of the heart, and produce a concord of the tenderest and 
loveliest feeling, why cannot unseen angelic influences do what is thus done 
by " the viewless spirit of a lovely sound ?" — Slack, Ministry of the Beauti- 
ful. 



THE ESCORT OF ANGELS. 



ATTRIBUTES AND CHARACTERISTICS. 



159 



" Now, Saviour, now. my soul receive, 
Transported from this vale, to live 

And reign with thee above ; 
Where faith is sweetly lost in sight, 
And hope in full supreme delight, 

And everlasting loveP 

Beholding, through the medium of the bright mirror of 
faith, and as reflected in the revealing glass of Inspiration, 
the resplendent halo of those moral excellencies which en- 
circle the celestial worshippers of the upper sanctuary — 
those shining ministers of state which surround the sapphire 
throne of the Majesty on High ; well does it behoove us in 
viewing the contrast of our disobedience, depravity, demerit 
and degradation, humbly to adopt, in the prostration of ad- 
miring devotion, the impulsive exclamation of the Royal 
Penitent : 0 Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in 
all the earth ! What is man that thou art mindful of 
him ? and the son of man that thou visitest him ? For 
thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast 
crowned him with glory and honor * Psalm viii. 1, 4, 5. 

^ The present note comprises the general opinion of the most able com- 
mentators and divines respecting the literal and spiritual meaning of the fifth 
verse of this Psalm. He is made but a little lower than the angels ; — low- 
er, indeed, because by his body he is allied to the earth, and to the beasts 
that perish, — yet by his soul, which is spiritual and immortal, he may be 
truly said to be but a little lower than they. He is but for a little while 
lower than the angels ; for the children of the resurrection shall be no longer 
lower than they. Luke xx. 36. He is endued with noble faculties and ca- 
pacities. God gave him his beings — has distinguished and qualified him for 
dominion over the inferior creatures. Man's reason is his crown of glory ; 
let him not profane that crown by disturbing the use of it, nor forfeit that 
crown by acting contrary to its dictates. He is invested with sovereign do- 
minion over the inferior creatures, under God, and is constituted their lord. 
This is such a display of the Divine love to us, vile sinners, as cannot be ex- 
pressed or comprehended, but should be humbly admired and adored. Every 
time we partake of them, we realize this dominion which man has over the 



160 ATTRIBUTES AKD CHARACTERISTICS . 



REMARKS AND STRICTURES. 

To hear marriage spoken of by those who have assumed the 
Christian profession, (for in this matter, we renounce all inter- 
course with infidels, profligates, and socialists,) as a Lottery is 
an awful outrage upon our natural instincts, a deliberate vio- 
lence committed upon our reason, and an impious impeachment 
of the wisdom and benevolence of God, who has circumvallated 
and garrisoned the domestic constitution by the most efficient 
provisions of our physical organization and the exquisite mental 
and moral sensibilities of our nature ; — whilst all the discord, 
and concomitant infelicities which occur in this sacred enclosure 
have, unquestionably, arisen from those who have gained admis- 
sion therein, by the imbecility or stratagems of an odious treach- 
ery. In the apostolic injunction, Be not unequally yoked, where 
can be discovered the necessity of the chance or fatalism of a 
pretended or affirmed sortilege ? If through the fatal influence 
of family pride, the unhallowed lust of passion, the sordid love 
of money, an immoral compliance with the artificial requisitions 
of fashionable life, or an unauthorized submission to the urgency 
of parental pertinacity, (for of all oppressions the most insidious 
and contemptible is domestic tyranny,) an ill-starred marriage 

works of God's hands ; and it is a reason for our subjection to God, our chief 
Lord, and his dominion over us.' 7 

The text, also, has a particular reference to Jesus Christ, as expounded 
and illustrated by St. Paul, in Hebrews ii. 6-8, where, to prove the sove- 
reign dominion of Christ, both in heaven and in earth, the apostle shows 
that he is that Man, here spoken of, whom God has crowned with glory 
and honor, and made to have dominion over the works of his hand. The 
greatest favor ever manifested to the human race, and the greatest honor 
ever put upon human nature, w r ere exemplified in the incarnation and ex- 
altation of the Lord Jesus ; these far exceed the favors and honors done us 
by creation and Providence, though they also are great, and far more than 
we deserve. In this, every other instance of Divine condescension is 
eclipsed, — all our thoughts are swallowed up, and our contemplations must 
issue in wonder, love, and praise." 



ATTRIBUTES AND CHARACTERISTICS. 161 

is effected, all the unhappiness and vicious consequences accruing 
therefrom, — like the unalterable law of cause and effect, — is ex- 
clusively attributable to the gross prostitution of that divine 
ordinance instituted by Jehovah himself, in the garden of Eden, 
when unpolluted by the stain and crime of man's disobedience, 
involving all the disastrous results which have flowed there- 
from. 

" Sacred wedlock ! law of heaven, 
By wisdom framed, in mercy given ; 
The spring, whence all the kindred ties 
Of parents, children, brethren rise ! 

Curs'd be the lusts that violate 
The honors of the married state ; 
The Lord himself in wrath severe 
Will judge the vile adulterer." 

The spirit of the apostolic injunction, likewise, clearly de- 
nounces the unnatural and indecorous affinity of blooming wo- 
manhood with decrepid senility, originating either in the prompt- 
ings of mercenary motives, or the unseemly indulgence of am- 
orous propensities. Equally abominable in the sight of a holy 
God, must be the intentions and conduct of those who think 
to assume the momentous responsibilities of the ministerial 
office, with the ostensible or avowed design of converting the 
pulpit into a stepping-stone for personal aggrandizement and 
social elevation, through the medium of an advantageous, though 
insincere, matrimonial alliance ; while some have even gone 
so far as to desecrate the solemn sacrament of the Eucharist for 
the accomplishment of a similar purpose ; neither are those 
clergymen free from reprehension, who, apparently unim- 
paired in physical strength and mental faculties, retire to 
the fashionable residences of watering places and summer re- 
sort, from the stated performance of ministerial labors ; as 
soon as they have secured the otium cum dignitate of a petti- 
coat pension. 

8 



162 



ATTRIBUTES AND CHARACTERISTICS. 



What an offensive spectacle in the sight of God. Angels, and 
Christians, is the frequent exhibition of ecclesiastical coxcombs, 
■whether in the adolescence, maturity, or decline, of their minis- 
terial functions, that "when they should be wooing a soul, they 
are evidently more anxious to court the admiration of their 
persons, manifested in the bestarched cravat, the beeurled peri- 
wig, preparatory attitudinizing, the studied display of the per- 
fumed cambric, dangling from the trimmed digits of the be- 
jewelled fingers of a bepoulticed hand. The subtilty and ma- 
lignity of Satan, the magnitude and grievous effects of sin. the 
priceless boon of Inspiration, the blood-bought gift of Redemp- 
tion, and the sacred influences of the Holy Ghost cannot tolerate 
such solemn mockeries ! 

If, in the foregoing remarks, the writer is considered to have 
indulged in observations too severe and outre, he would recom- 
mend his censurers to consult the sentiments and strictures of 
that extraordinary theologian, the late Eobert Hall, who invari 
ably placed in juxtaposition — side by side — with vulgarity, affec- 
tation, buffoonery, pride, -vanity, and pharisaism in the sacred 
desk — Satan, his angels and allies. 

The extravagant expense for the ostentation of personal pride 
and social importance displayed in the fitting up, and auctioneer- 
ing, for the most fashionable pews, in professing Christian 
churches, are also very serious abominations, converting the 
House of God — the house of prayer into a house of merchan- 
dise. — a den of thieves. — Matt. xxi. 12, 13. 

Description of the Plate. — The plate represents the 
escort of a departed believer to the gate of heaven. The con- 
ducting angel, being preceded by the announcing angel, on the 
banner of whose trumpet are given those passages which con- 
stitute the credentials or passport of Faith, and which, upon be- 
ing presented to the receiving angel, the portals of the city of 
the heavenly Jerusalem are instantly thrown open for the ad- 



ATTRIBUTES AJSTD CHARACTERISTICS. 



163 



mission of their charge. Lower down, is a guardian angel, sur- 
rounded by happy cherubs, conveying the son of the departed 
to the Paradise above ; upon the drapery of whose ethereal 
vestment is inscribed that passage upon which is founded the 
doctrine of infant salvation, for the reception of such juvenile 
inhabitants amongst the angels of God. 



RESIDENCE AND SOCIETY, 



In the unwearied and exhilarating progress of our advanc- 
ing and animating inquiries respecting the spiritual nature, 
exalted rank, amazing attributes, and beautiful characteris- 
tics of celestial intelligences, we have now arrived at an 
important point of our elevating and delightful theme, 
requiring the sober and serious consideration of the local or 
constituted residence of angels, usually denominated Hea- 
ven ; and which is variously represented in Scripture — as 
the city of the living God, — the resplendent habitation of 
the innumerable company of angels, — the magnificent palace 
of the celestial Jerusalem, — the bright mansions of the in- 
corruptible, unfading, and eternal inheritance of the saints 
in light, — the holy and glorified throne of Redemption and 
the Godhead, — the sacred Mount Zion and upper sanctuary 
of the Christian church, resounding with the triumphant 
hallelujahs of the ransomed inhabitants, victorious over 
Satan, sin, and mortality, — the august and effulgent 
Shechinah of Eternity. 

Various and momentous as are all the revealed communi- 
cations of the Bible, it is a striking circumstance, eliciting 
admonitory reflections, that scarcely anything is taught us in 
Holy Writ concerning any of the worlds included under the 
general name of Heavens, except the Supreme Heaven. 

The reason for which, it is not difficult to ascertain, being 
found in the truthful conviction that whatever information 
might have been given or knowledge attained respecting 



RESIDENCE AND SOCIETY. 



165 



them ; would, after all, be the mere gratification of curiosity, 
incapable of being directed to any valuable end, as connect- 
ed with our advancing holiness, or promotive of our spiritual 
edification ; for, under the fluctuating and deceptive influ- 
ence of this powerful principle, in all probability we should 
have been diverted by such communications, if they had 
been made, from the thoughtful reception of those solemn 
and glorious verities which ought to occupy our thoughts, as 
more needful in the attainment of those things which accom- 
pany salvation. Few affections of the human mind exert a 
stronger influence over its conduct than curiosity. Well- 
directed, and cautiously kept within proper bounds, it is 
eminently profitable to man, by prompting him unceasingly 
to useful inquiries, improvements in knowledge, and discov- 
eries in science ; but when suffered to wander without 
restraint, it conducts to mere gratification, hazardous to the 
real interests and eternal welfare of the soul. 

But with the Heaven of Heavens we have a continual and 
most important concern. This glorious and delightful 
world is the place to which all our ultimate views are 
urgently directed by our Maker, God, and Saviour, — the 
blissful home to which a merciful and gracious Jehovah 
invites us to look, as our final rest and rescue from trouble 
and temptation ; and the final seat of all the enjoyment 
which we are capable of attaining. With its illustrious and 
benevolent inhabitants, we shall, if we are wise, become 
familiarly acquainted and intimately united, and shall live 
in the midst of them, through ages which cannot end. Of 
this world, therefore, and of those happy and dignified beings 
who dwell therein, it has pleased an All-wise God, in the in- 
finite condescension of his loving-kindness, to furnish us 
with information beneficial, various, and extensive, unfolding 
to our view the character of its noble inhabitants and attrac- 



166 



RESIDENCE AND SOCIETY. 



tive intercourse, — its sublime occupation, its gorgeous scene- 
ry, and inconceivable beautitude ! 

The word heaven is variously applied in different passages 
of the Bible. It is employed in reference to God, as in 
Daniel iv. 26. Until thou know, that the heavens do 
rule. To angels ; — The heavens are not clean in his sight. 
Job xv. 15 ; in which passage, some commentators have 
supposed that an intimation is given of the fall of Lucifer. 
To the Christian church : — There was war in heaven, 
Rev. xii. 7,* implying the struggles and conflicts of the 
primitive saints and of Christianity. To a great height, the 
cities are great and walled up to heaven jf- — to distin- 

* By the woman in heaven, in the first verse of this chapter, some com- 
mentators understand the Christian church, and the man child brought forth 
by her, the first Christian emperor. The war in heaven, the persecutions 
which prevailed in the early history of Christianity. Michael and his an- 
gels, the confessors and champions of the gospel. The dragon and his an- 
gels, the idolatrous and bloody tyrants of Rome, pagan and papal, including 
every species of hostility against Christ and his disciples. The casting out 
of this dragon, was the overthrow of idolatry when the heathen lost the 
throne. The accusations of the brethren, those abominable, but altogether 
groundless, calumnies cast by the worshippers and slaves of the dragon upon 
the Christians and their religion. And the wrath of the dragon or devil, 
when thus subdued, exerted itself in the violence of some succeeding em- 
perors, the heresies and discords sown among the members, and churches of 
Christ, and all the miseries consequent on the inundation of barbarous na- 
tions which tore in pieces the Roman empire itself. It is certain, also, that 
Christians, in the time of Constantine, thought the prophecy contained in 
this chapter was plainly fulfilled, by the great and baneful event of Con- 
stantine's advancement to the imperial throne of the Roman empire ; the 
emperors statue being set over his palace gate, representing him as tramp- 
ling on a wounded dragon. Even Constantine himself, in his epistle to 
Eusebius, speaks of his conquest of Licinius, as the downfall of the dragon and 
the restoration of Christian liberty to all men. 

f The people of the East anciently raised up the walls of their city so 
high, as not being liable to be scaled, they considered themselves perfectly 
secure from all external invasion. The same simple contrivance, is to this 



RESIDENCE AND SOCIETY. 



167 



guished glory. How art thou fallen from heaven, 0 Luci- 
fer, Son of the Morning,* — the firmament or expansion 
over our heads, in which are set the sun, moon, and 
stars ; — the kingdom prepared before the foundation of the 
world ; — the building not made with hands, eternal in the 
heavens ; — the inheritance incorruptible, undefiled and that 
fadeth not away ; the heavenly city which hath no need of 
a candle, nor the light of the sun or the moon to enlighten 
it, for God and the Lamb are the light thereof, and into 
which nothing that defileth can enter, being the blest abodes 
of purity, of knowledge, of triumph, where there are blessed 
companions and blest employ. 

In the Scriptures the epithet Paradise is frequently ap- 
plied to portray the distinguishing and superabundant feli- 
city of heaven ; and it is worthy of particular observation, 
that the word Eden, which imports extreme pleasure and 
delight, was often used by the inspired penmen of the Old 

day, deemed a sufficient guard from the attack of the marauding Arabs. Up 
to heaven, was an oriental hyperbole or proverbial expression. 

* Kings, princes, and rulers are sometimes represented by the heavenly 
hosts, and figuratively compared to the sun, moon, and stars. By Lucifer, 
in the above text, we are to understand, metaphorically, the king of Baby- 
lon, who outvied the other potentates of the East, as much as the morning 
star, by virtue of its peculiar brilliancy, outshines all other constellations in 
the firmament. The expression, also, doubtless alludes to the fait of Satan, 
the prince of the apostate angels, described by our Saviour, and recorded by 
the evangelist, Luke x. IS. I beheld Satan, as lightning, fall from heaven. 
The title of son of the morning, is common both to the morning star and to 
an angel; the angels being styled, in Job xxxviii. 7, morning stars. The 
fall of the apostate angels is not directly recorded in the Old Testament ; 
but it is implied in the distinction which the inspired writers make between 
good and evil spirits, and is sometimes alluded to by the prophets, when 
they threaten destruction to proud and violent tyrants, who, in imitation of 
the pride of the devil, exalt themselves against God and his truth, and are 
the instruments of Satan in promoting idolatry and wickedness in the 
world. 



16S 



RESIDENCE AND SOCIETY. 



Testament, to denote places which were either remarkably 
fruitful in their soil or enchantingly agreeable in their situa- 
tion ; in connection with the striking coincidences of divine 
Revelation, which opens and shuts with such corresponding 
and joyous subjects of contemplation. The Bible begins with 
the Mosaic description of the terrestrial Eden, and closes 
with the apocalyptic representation of the glories, magnifi- 
cent grandeur, and exuberant happiness of the celestial 
Paradise. 

Eden was remarkable for a river which issued from it ; 
in like manner St. John describes, in the heavenly Eden, a 
pure river of the water of life proceeding from the throne of 
God and the Lamb. Each was adorned by a tree of Life, 
prolific with fruit, which grew in the midst thereof. These 
various analogies, as well as other similitudes, are evidently 
designed to teach us that Jehovah purposed, in the redemp- 
tion of the second Adam, the Lord from heaven, to restore 
to his people a more perfect and enduring state of bliss than 
that which was forfeited by the sad and fatal disobedience 
of our first parents. In the closing chapters of Revelation 
St. John appears embarrassed and overpowered when he 
desired to exhibit the splendor and magnificence, the beati- 
tude and glory of the holy and heavenly city ; — its walls are 
jasper, high, deep, and wide ; — its streets and dwelling- 
places of pure and pellucid gold, whose foundation and 
pavement are precious stones, with its twelve gates, each a 
pearl, watched and attended by angels. 

In condescension to our limited faculties, and to aid our 
inadequate conceptions of invisible or spiritual things, St. 
John reiterates his splendid allusions to the heavenly metro- 
polis, by reference to the holy city of Jerusalem, the pride 
of the Jews and the glory of the whole earth. And to ex- 
press its perfect symmetry, excessive beauty, and the com- 



RESIDENCE AND SOCIETY. 



169 



plete safety of its inhabitants, it is said to be four square, 
and to be surrounded by a wall, great and wide. It had 
three gates on every side, to intimate, that from all quarters 
of the globe there is a way opened to heaven for such who 
are suitably qualified to become its denizens, gathered from 
the east, and the west, the north, and the south, to dwell 
together, enfranchised with the privileges of the kingdom of 
God. On these gates were inscribed the names of the 
twelve tribes of Israel, to signify that none but the true 
Israel of God will be allowed admission within its sacred 
precincts ; whilst on the twelve precious stones which com- 
posed the foundation of the city walls, were engraved the 
names of the apostles of the Lamb ; implying that the 
church in heaven, like the church on earth, is built upon the 
foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Jesus Christ 
himself being the chief corner stone. 

The word Paradise occurs three times in the Old Testa- 
ment, where it is employed to express the high culture of 
beautiful gardens, fruitful orchards, and enchanting scenery; 
likewise in the New Testament, in relation to heaven, in the 
affecting spectacle of our Saviour, during the agonies and ig- 
nominy of the crucifixion, when he imparted the gracious 
promise to the penitent thief on the cross : To-day shalt thou 
be with me in Paradise. The ecstatic declaration of the 
apostle : How that he teas caught up into Paradise, and 
heard unspeakable words, which it was not lawful for a 
man to utter ; — the animating assurance afforded to the 
faithful warrior in the Christian warfare : To him that over- 
cometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, ichich is in 
the midst of the Paradise of God. 

Not only in Scripture terminology is this appellation em- 
ployed, as a synonyme to convey the idea of the most exqui- 
site pleasures and consummate beatitude which reign 
S* 



170 



RESIDENCE AND SOCIETY. 



supremely in heaven, but the pagan world and ancient an- 
thology attempted similar representations respecting the 
heaven of their gods, heroes, statesmen, philosophers, poets, 
and all those deemed worthy of an apotheosis, as a spot of 
peculiar and entrancing blessedness, which they situated in 
some far distant and lovely island, unvisited by mortals, or 
else their imagination placed it in the Hesperian gardens of 
their Elysian fields, which their fancy beautified with beds 
of odoriferous flowers, embowered walks, spicy groves, and 
shrubberies of aromatic sweetness, quiet valleys and crystal 
streams, sparkling fountains and unclouded skies, fanned 
by perfumed zephyrs, upon whose aereal wings floated, in 
unearthly melodj 7 , the harmonious chants of the matins and 
vespers of the blest. 

But we eagerly return from this digressive reference to 
the dark superstitions of benighted heathenism, the classic 
philosophy of polished Greece, and the elaborate mythology 
of martial Rome, to some more appropriate reflections upon 
the spirituality of the heaven of Christianity ; and amongst 
the ineffable advantages which will attend our introduction 
into heaven, will be the inconceivable opportunities which will 
be offered to our renovated perceptions, of a more satisfactory 
knowledge and deeper insight into the inscrutable mysteries 
of Divine Providence, and the economy of all-mighty grace. 

In heaven* our knowledge and attainments will brighten 
and expand in proportion, in glorious correspondency to the 
inconceivable and amazing advantages of the celestial state. 
Even in the present probationary and progressive steps of 
our fallen condition, aided by the astonishing discoveries of 

* If the mind of an infant can expand, during the lapse of years, to the di- 
mensions of a Newton's mind, notwithstanding all the unfavorable circum- 
stances in which it is here placed, why may it not, during an eternal resi- 
dence in heaven, with the omniscient, all- wise God for its teacher, expand 
so far as to embrace any finite circle whatever. — Dr. Payson, Sermons. 



RESIDENCE AND SOCIETY. 



171 



divulging science, what rapid advancement has recently been 
made in our apprehensions of the wonderful and hitherto 
hidden secrets — the sublime and surprising arcana of the 
natural world and physical nature. An acquaintance with 
the mineral kingdom has imparted to man the power of sub- 
duing the earth, and appropriating her productions for his 
use and comfort. From the science of astronomy, accom- 
panied with an insight into the properties of the magnet, he 
has derived the ability to traverse the wide and tempestuous 
ocean, converting it from a separating barrier, into a con- 
necting medium of brotherly intercourse, with the numerous 
families of the different nations dispersed over the surface 
of the terraqueous globe. A familiarity with the principles 
of aerostation, enables him to ascend and float in the subtle 
element of the circumambient air, and penetrate the clouds, 
until he becomes invisible in the distant regions of atmos- 
pheric space, enveloped in the variegated and elegant cur- 
tains of the starry firmament of the solar system ; so that, 
by the auxiliary information of analogy, drawn from the study 
of prying science, the rich and beauteous provinces of in- 
structive nature, we are assured that when we dwell with 
celestial intelligences, our spiritualized perceptions will be 
rendered capable of reaching the loftiest attitudes of angelic 
sagacity and knowledge ; for says our Saviour : The chil- 
dren of the resurrection — the children of God, will be equal 
to the angels, — on the same equality with them in glory, 
honor, dignity, felicity, and immortal wisdom. 

The noblest, more important, and by far the most attrac- 
tive view of the angelical residence, is derived from the 
consideration of its being the especial dwelling-place of 
Jehovah, and which in the Scriptures is frequently styled 
the Heaven of Heavens, the holy 2 fountain, the House of 
God, the favorite habitation chosen by Deity, where God 



172 



RESIDENCE AND SOCIETT. 



displays the manifestations of His glory and effulgence in a 
manner superior to any other place in the circle of the uni- 
verse. It is also called by the pre-eminent distinction of 
the locality, The throne of God, the seat of universal and 
endless dominion, where the Divine authority is peculiarly 
exercised and made known, and the splendors of the Divine 
government exhibited with inconceivable lustre and gran- 
deur. 

It is likewise distinguished as being the blissful residence 
of his most favored creatures — the saints who are redeemed 
by the blood of his Son, and of the innumerable company 
of angels which stand round about the throne. As the 
centre of consummate holiness, radiating virtue, and Divine 
communications, it appears with transcendant beauty and 
glory ; where the divine principle shines without alloy, and 
flourishes in immortal youth ; where the finishings of Al- 
mighty workmanship and the endless diversities of omnisci- 
ent skill are exhibited in the most exquisite forms, and in 
the last degrees of refinement and perfection ; the ocean 
from which all the streams of infinite wisdom and goodness 
proceed, and into which they return, flowing with the un- 
fathomable depth and inexhaustible fullness of joy everlast- 
ing, and pleasures for evermore ! 

The resplendent throne of God may further be considered 
as the capital of the universe.* " From this glorious centre 

* There is an astronomical idea which may help us to form conceptions of 
this glorious high throne, which is the peculiar residence of the Eternal : it 
being highly probable, if not certain, from minute observations on the nature 
of the law of gravitation, and other circumstances, that all the systems of the 
universe revolve round one common centre, and that the centre may bear as 
great a proportion in point of magnitude, to the universal assemblages of sys- 
tems, as the sun does to his surrounding planets ; and since our sun is five 
hundred times larger than the earth, or all the other planets, and their satel- 
lites taken together, on the same scale, such a central body would be five 



RESIDENCE AND SOCIETY. 



173 



embassies may be occasionally dispatched to all surrounding 
worlds, in every region of space. Here, too, deputations 
from all the different provinces of creation may occasionally 
assemble, and the inhabitants of different worlds mingle with 
each other, and learn the grand outlines of those physical 
operations and moral transactions which have taken place in 
their respective spheres. Here may be exhibited to unnum- 
bered multitudes, objects of sublimity and glory, which are 
no where else to be found within the wide extent of creation. 
Here intelligences of the highest order, who have attained 
the most sublime height of knowledge and virtue, may form 
the principal part of the population of this magnificent 
region. Here the glorified body of the Redeemer may have 
taken its principal station, as the head of all principalities 
and powers, and here likewise Enoch and Elias may reside, 
and according to the general tenor of Scripture, where God's 
throne is, where Christ in his glorified body is, in this royal 
city of the King of Kings, and there is also the home of the 
sainted dead.* 

The residence of angels is also denominated, by way of 
eminent distinction, the third heavens , the holiest of holies^ 

hundred times larger than all the systems and worlds in the universe. Here 
may be a vast universe in itself — an example of material creation exceeding 
all the rest in magnitude and splendor, and in which are blended the glories 
of every other system. If this is in reality the case, it may with most em- 
phatic propriety be termed the Throne of God. — Dr. Dick. Philosophy of 
Religion. 

=*Dr. Chalkier/ s Astronomical Discourses. 

f The most exact representation of the heavenly world (considered as a 
place) that was ever given to men, was the ancient tabernacle, formed after 
the pattern given to Moses in the Mount. That magnificent and divine 
pavilion was the emblem and the type of heaven itself, and built by Moses 
partly to be a place of Jehovah's visible residence, as the King of Israel, 
and partly to be the centre and medium of that solemn worship which the 
Jewish people were required and enjoined to render to him. Within the 



174 



RESIDENCE AND SOCIETY. 



in which converge and are concentrated all the most glori- 
ous manifestations and displays of the divine Majesty ; ren- 
dering the celestial scenery worthy of the infinite merit and 
purchase of the Son of God, — worthy of the most enlarged 
desires, anticipations and hopes of the redeemed, — the 
amazing theatre in which an eternal providence of progress- 
ive knowledge, power and love, and all the diversities of 
virtuous intelligence, — all the forms and hues of Moral 
Beauty, will brighten in an unceasing gradation, and where 
the harmonious anthems of gratitude and praise, love and 
enjoyment, will eternally resound. 

This ineffably delightful spot, an apostle has enchantingly 
represented as the new heavens and the new earth, wherein 
dwelleth righteousness ; — where God will wipe away all 
tears from every eye, where there shall be no more death, 
neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more 
pain ; for the former things are passed away ; and amongst 
its various and peculiar privileges will be access to the tree 

second veil of this tabernacle called the sanctum sanctorum, or holiest of 
holies, Aaron was forbidden access at all times. Within its sacred en- 
closure were deposited the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant over- 
laid with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron- s 
rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant, and the cherubim of glory 
in which God dwelt in the awful cloud that overshadowed the mercy-seat ; 
so in like manner He resides, in the holiest of all in the heavens, as he does 
not in any other part of the universe. Behold the heaven is his throne and 
the earth is his footstool. Heaven is the centre of his operations, and per- 
haps we might say, of his essence. 

God, who only gave six days to the work of creation, employed forty 
days in giving instructions that the tabernacle might be made. For that in 
which the representation of the world of grace was manifested was by far 
the most wondrous work. One chapter alone is occupied by Moses in de* 
scribing the structure of the visible world ; more than six in explaining that 
of the tabernacle ; thus we are taught, that the latter is no less to be attend- 
ed to than the former, since from considering thereof the marvels of Christ 
are made known to us. — Witsius. 



RESIDENCE AND SOCIETY. 



175 



of life, denoting a state of immortality. " Blessed indeed are 
they who do his commandments, that they may have right 
to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into 
the city. 5 ' 

Notwithstanding our imperfect and inadequate percep- 
tions of the incomprehensible glories of the heavenly state, 
sufficient has been graciously revealed, # to animate the 
ravished soul, during her terrestrial sojourn in the taber- 
nacle of this present life of darkness and doubt, dangers and 
despondency, distress and death, to urge her continually to 
chant the sonnet of devout aspiration, grateful and ador- 
ing praise : 

" Who, who would live alway, away from his God ; 
Away from yon heaven, that blissful abode, 
Where the rivers of pleasure flow o'er the bright plains, 
And the noon-tide of glory eternally reigns ! 
Where the saints of all ages in harmony meet, 
Their Savior and brethren, transported to greet, 
While the anthems of rapture unceasingly roll, 
And the smile of the Lord is the feast of the soul !" 

* The Christian, however, must propose these questions to himself: 
" Amidst all this waste of worlds," where is the heaven of his religion ? 
Where is the abode of the body of Christ, which visibly ascended into an- 
other place through the firmament above us ? The Christian cannot be de- 
frauded of his consolations by the powers of the telescope, nor the loftiest 
nights of imagination. The God who made the noble universe, gave also 
Christianity to man, to direct him to an existence in a state of immortality. 
But if there is a state, or condition, there must also be a place in which we 
must dwell ; and that place we are repeatedly assured, is the same place 
which the body of Christ now possesses. If St. Stephen was permitted 
to see the Shechinah, preparatory to his being stoned, his visual faculties 
shall have been so strengthened that the inconceivable distance between 
earth and heaven was, as it were, annihilated- St. Stephen, filled with the 
Holy Ghost, saw, in the flesh, his blessed Redeemer. The heaven of 
heavens was brought near to man, and the first Christian martyr was en- 
abled to behold it, as a pledge and earnest of his own immortal happiness ; 
and through him a pledge to all those who by the same faith shall offer 



176 



RESIDENCE AND SOCIETY. 



But we hasten to offer a few brief and concluding observ- 
ations regarding the attractive society and inviting associa- 
tions of the celestial state ; and which will consist of those 
glorious spirits who have stood fast in their original integrity, 
have never swerved from the allegiance of their loyalty to 
the Majesty enthroned upon the illimitable circle of uni- 
versal empire. The children of the resurrection, the chil- 
dren of God, will hold friendly and intimate intercourse with 
the purest and most fascinating, the most amiable and lovely 
intelligences that were ever created, as the representatives 
of the exuberant beneficience and supreme holiness of Je- 
hovah — whose obedience has never been disturbed by a 
single emotion of rebellious feeling — whose characters have 
never been tarnished by one solitary stain of impurity — 
whose eyes have never been sullied by one momentary tear, 
and whose hearts have never been seduced by the influence 
of temptation. As objects of contemplation, angels present 
to us the delightful spectacle of inherent light, beauty, and 
greatness. These noble and illustrious beings never indulge 
in sloth, deceit, wrath, malice, envy, or impiety. " Angels 
never cheat, corrupt, betray, or oppress. Angels never 
profane the name of God, perjure themselves, ridicule sacred 
things, insult the Redeemer, resist the Holy Ghost, nor 
deny the being, the perfections, the word, or the government 
of God. Angels never consume their time in idle amuse- 
ments, or guilty pleasures ; never slander each other, never 
quarrel, never make wars, and never desire or plunder each 
other's blessings. 5 ' 

In the survey of those beauteous and resplendent excel- 
lencies which, like an ethereal and radiant garment, sur- 
rounds and adorns the character and conduct of these love- 

themselves living and acceptable sacrifices to God. — Dr. Chalmers, Astro- 
nomical Discoveries. 



RESIDENCE AND SOCIETY. 



177 



ly and affectionate,* immaculate and impeccable inhabitants 
of the skies, and worshippers in the temple and within the 
veil of the upper skies, well may Poesy, animated and in- 
spired by such an array of moral virtues, burst forth into 
the sacred aspiration — 

" In such society as this, 

My willing soul would stay ; 
And sit and sing herself away 
To everlasting bliss."' 

Another most cheering, elevating, and unspeakably at- 
tractive view of the society of heaven, is presented and 
urged in the joyous expectation and animating desire of 
meeting and mingling with the most excellent characters 
that have ever appeared upon the face of this ruined world, 
— patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, and the re- 
deemed, " gathered out of every kindred, and people, and 
nation, and language, and tongue, 5 ' purified from every 
earthly imperfection, divested of all infirmity, and clothed 
with the lustre of the spiritual body — a glorious community, 
which, in the comprehensive and descriptive declaration of 
the Scripture, is styled the general assembly and church of 
the first born, and the spirits of just men made perfect. 

How enrapturing, too, the thought and belief, that we 
shall there greet in the beauty of holiness^ and the wor- 
ship of the liturgical services of the upper sanctuary, those 
endeared objects of affection — the desire of our eyes — and 
the children of our love, who have preceded us to the king- 
dom of glory, delivered from all the infelicities of those dis- 

* There is not a single reason to believe that angels ever exercised, even 
in one instance, personal resentment against the basest and most guilty child 
of Adam ; or a revengeful thought against the most depraved inhabitant of 
hell. No provocation is able to disturb the serenity of their minds. No 
cloud ever overcasts their smiles, or intercepts the clear sunshine of their 
benevolence. — Dr. Dwight. 



178 



RESIDENCE AND SOCIETY. 



ciplinary and afflictive dispensations incidental to our pre- 
sent state of existence in this sin-disordered world, — to greet 
them in those bright and celestial mansions, where the ex- 
ercise of the refined sensibilities of our spiritualized nature 
will be liable to suffer no disturbance or interruption from 
the sufferings of pain, the debility of disease, the vexations 
of disappointment, the sorrows of unexpected vicissitudes 
and unforeseen woes, the aberrations of a distempered sen- 
soriuin,* the avarice which annihilates natural affection, the 
tormenting reproaches of an awakened conscience, those in- 
vasions of mental and moral distress, which in this troublous 
life besiege and entrench the soul, or the heart-rending sep- 
aration of the inflexible decree of death ! How captivating, 
then, and supporting the anticipation of thus greeting one 
another in this goodly and harmonious fellowship! and re- 
vealed beatitude of heaven ; for Christ has averred, that in 
that world, the children of God, being the children of the 
resurrection, shall be loayyeAot, equal or like to the an- 
gelsjf invested, adorned, and beatified with the same attri- 
butes, knowledge, holiness, dignity, and the ineffable enjoy- 
ment of the divine favor !t 

* Amongst the sanitary measures for the recovery of those laboring under 
mental affliction, as the consequence either of disease or grief, the attendance 
on the services of sabbatical worship and the observance of religious ex- 
ercises, are found to be the most soothing, and effectively beneficial : as- 
suredly, then, such a cogent demonstration of the adaptation of Christianity 
to meet the multiform ailments of our physical nature, as well as the moral 
necessities of the " divinity that stirs within us^ it well behooves the philoso- 
pher to ponder with admonitory astonishment, and the infidel with warning 
consternation. 

f I believe there shall never be an anarchy in heaven ; but as there be 
hierarchies amongst the angels, so shall there be degrees of priority amongst 
the saints. — Sir Thomas Browne. Christian Morals. 

I The bodies of good men, saith St. Augustine, after the resurrection shall 
be qualia sunt angelorum corpora, such as the bodies of angels; and, also, 
that they shall be corpora angelica in societate angelorum, fit for society and 
converse with angels. 



RESIDENCE AND SOCIETY. 



179 



This animating conviction and noble aspiration of a bibli- 
cal faith, is quaintly, yet strikingly represented in the fol- 
lowing expressions of the fervid and devout Isaac Ambrose, 
in his nervous discourses on the Communion and Ministry 
of JIngels : u Adam was kept out of Paradise by cheru- 
bims, yet cherubims and seraphims, and all the host of 
heaven are ready to receive the saints into the glorious city. 
O ! what a joy will be in Jheaven at the first admittance of 
these souls ! what clasping, closing, kissing, embracing will 
be at this entrance betwixt saints and angels. Welcome, 
say the angels, and welcome say the archangels, yea, the 
principalities triumph, and powers rejoice, and virtues 
shine, and thrones glitter, and cherubim give light, and 
seraphim burn, at the soul's arrival, where they shall live 
together, and love together, and sing together Jehovah's 
praise !" To winch may be added the corresponding senti- 
ments of the eccentric and pious Skelton : " What a glow 
of the infinite sweetness of love and friendship will pervade 
the 6 spirits of good men made perfect ;' to see those souls, 
who perhaps, in this life contended bitterly about the trifles 
of this w r orld, meeting like c righteousness and peace, kissing 
each other,' to see them strike hands, and unite hearts for- 
ever. Among this glorious company there is none that doth 
not contribute largely to the satisfaction and entertainment 
of the rest. There is no weak reasoning, no biassed judg- 
ing, no tedious searches after knowledge ; no ill-natured 
ridicule, no trifling, no impertinence ; no pride, nor jealousy, 
nor envy." 

Amidst the trials, and temptations, and bereavements of 
this probationary scene of mortality, how consolatory and 
sustaining the hope, and stimulating the promise of the liv- 
ing oracles of inspired truth, of an admission into that build- 
ing of God, the house not made with hands, eternal in the 
heavens : 



180 



RESIDENCE AND SOCIETY. 



" Where numerous households meet at last, 
In one eternal home." 

"But the unspeakable majesty, the crowning glory, the 
splendid magnificence of the residence and society of heaven 
will consist of the presence of Jesus Christ, as seated on 
the throne of everlasting love and universal empire. In 
this transcendentally overpowering contemplation of heaven, 
hope, brightens ; faith, adores ; and charity, — the favorite 
and radiant guest of a blissful eternity — burns with fresh 
accessions of divine ardor. As the reward of Redemption, 
— as the trophies of his victory over death and the grave, — 
as the purchase of his precious and atoning blood, the 
adopted children of God, sanctified by the gracious influences 
of the promised Paraclete, will forever stand around the 
flaming throne of his sovereignty, irradiate in the dazzling 
effulgence of the ineffable complacency of the Godhead, — in 
that resplendent pavilion and sacred temple of celestial re- 
gality, which an elegant writer has thus represented : — 
" Whatsoever heaven is higher than all the rest of the 
heavens ; whatsoever sanctuary is holier than all which are 
called holies ; whatsoever place is of greater dignity in all 
those courts above, into that place did Christ ascend, where 
in the splendor of his Deity, he was before he took upon 
himself our humanity." 

But before dismissing our reflections on this august and 
mysterious subject, we desire with respectful remonstrance, 
earnest expostulation and Christian sincerity, prompted by 
the unswerving loyalty of our faith, to address those who 
seek to cast Christ dozen from his excellency. Give a 
negative to the Deity Christ, and discord is instantly intro- 
duced amongst the attributes of Jehovah ! Reject the 
Deity of Christ, and the melting tragedy of the sacrificial and 
ensanguined summit of Calvary becomes a solemn mockery, 



RESIDENCE AND SOCIETY. 



181 



and dreadful delusion ; extorting with a bitterness which no 
language can portray, the dolorous lamentation and afflictive 
announcement of apostolic averment, " We are of all men 
indeed the most miserable." Deprive Christ of his Deity, 
and instantly the key stone is displaced out of the arch of 
salvation which tumbles into inevitable ruin and irrecover- 
able destruction ! If Christ be not divine, then Heaven is 
annihilated, and creation also deprived of her Maker and 
Lord, Benefactor and Upholder ! The denial of the Deity 
of Christ involves the awful and petrifying alternative of 
making God a liar, and violating, by a forbidden idolatry, 
the second commandment of the decalogue, which was re- 
ceived by the disposition of angels, amidst the blackness 
and darkness, the thunder and lightnings of the august and 
terrific scenery enacted upon the smoking summit of the 
trembling mount of Sinai.* 

For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Fa- 
ther, the Word, and the Holy Ghost ; and these three are 
one. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God 
is greater J for this is the witness of God which he hath 
testified of his Son. He that believeth on the Son of God 
hath the witness in himself ; he that believeth not God 
hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the record 
that God gave of his Son. 1 John v. 7, 9, 10. 

For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of 
the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto 
these things, God shall add unto him the plagues which 
are written in this book : and if any man shall take away 
from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall 

* The late Dr. Charming, (the intellectual champion and most eloquent 
writer amongst the Unitarians of this country,) in his essay upon heaven, 
represents it as scarcely better than a nursery for the improvement of our 
mental faculties. What a difference — what an impassable gulf — between 
the heaven ot the Socinian and the Christian. — G-. C. 



182 



RESIDENCE AND SOCIETY. 



take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the 
holy city, and from the things which are written in this 
book. Rev. xxii. 18, 19. 

Ashamed of Jesus ! sooner far, 
Let evening blush to own a star ; 
Ashamed of thee, whom angels praise, 
Whose glories shines through endless days. 

Ashamed of Jesus ! that dear friend, 
On whom my hopes of heaven depend ; 
No ! when I blush, be this my shame, 
That I no more revere his name. 

Ashamed of Jesus ! yes I may, 
When I've no sins to wash away, 
No tear to wipe, no good to crave, 
No fears to quell, no soul to save. 

Till then — nor is my boasting vain, 

Till then, I boast a Saviour slain, 

And oh ! may this my glory be, 

That Christ is not ashamed of me. — Grigg. 

Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him 
will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. 
But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also 
deny before my Father which is in heaven. 

TRADITIONARY AND DELINEATIVE. 

The Talmudists appear to have regarded, in the theory of 
their legends, the garden of Eden as an intermediate state, in 
the light of a residence for the souls of the righteous immedi- 
ately after death ; and also adopted the belief that the bodies 
of Enoch, Elias, and St. John the Evangelist were translated 
thither, in order that they might not undergo the process of 
death and decomposition ; and that they will remain there until 
the end of the world ; — making the dimensions of Paradise one 
hundred and sixty times larger than the terrestrial globe, stating 



RESIDENCE AND SOCIETY. 



183 



that Paradise and hell were among the seven things which God 
created before the formation of the material universe. 

The Jews retain a tradition that Moses their leader having 
ascended to Heaven to intercede before God on their behalf, he 
received from the hands of Jehovah the two tables of stones, 
carved from the sapphire of the throne of his preciousness, and 
during his stay there, when Jah gave to him the law and com- 
mandments, the wicked of that generation arose and made a 
golden calf. When Moses returned, bearing the two tables, 
learning the offences of the people, his hands became heavy, and 
they fell from him, and were broken. After this serious catas- 
trophe Moses re-ascended to propitiate Jah, on account of the 
rebellious wickedness of the children of Israel ; Rabbinical 
writers affirming that in his second entrance into heaven, Moses 
having prayed for the people, and propitiated the displeasure of 
Jah, received the revelation of th& institutions of divine wor- 
ship, and also heard the dreadful voice of the holy and blessed 
God. 

St. Athanasius poetically described the spicy gales which 
breathe over the Indian seas, to have come from the neighbor- 
hood of Paradise, which God planted in the East ; whilst 
Origen resolved the second chapter of Genesis altogether into 
an allegory, referring Paradise to the third heaven ; transform- 
ing the trees into angelic virtues, and its rivers into waters above 
the firmament. St Augustine also composed a hymn entitled de 
Gloria Paradisi, glowingly descriptive of the loveliness and lux- 
uriant fruitfulness of the gardens designed and prepared for the 
blest. 

Some suppose Eden to have been the earth in miniature, and 
to have contained specimens of all natural productions, as they 
appeared, without blemish, in an unfallen world, in the utmost 
profusion. 

The North American Indians believe that beyond the most 
distant mountains of their country, there is a great river, and 
beyond that river a vast territory, and on the other side of that 



RESIDENCE AND SOCIETY. 



region a world of water, and in that water a thousand islands, 
abounding with fruitful trees, and transparent streams, and that 
a thousand buffaloes and ten thousand deer graze on the grassy 
hills and ruminate in the verdant valleys, and that when they 
die the Great Spirit will conduct them to this happy and distant 
land of souls. 

No man, it is presumed, ever read the history of our first pa- 
rents contained in the second chapter of Genesis, without being 
deeply interested in their state as well as their character. The 
Paradise allotted to them as their proper residence, has, in a 
high degree, engaged the attention, and awakened the delight of 
every reader. Its majestic trees laden with luscious fruits, its 
fields arrayed in verdure and adorned with variegated flow- 
ers, the life which breathed in its fragrant winds and flow- 
ed in its crystal rivers, the serenity of its sky, and the splen- 
dor of its sunshine, together with the immortality which gilded 
and burnished all its beauteous landscapes and enchanting 
scenery, have filled the heart with rapture, and awakened the 
most romantic visions of the imagination. The poets of the 
West, and still more those of the East, have, down to the pre- 
sent hour, kindled at the thought of this exhibition of perfection 
and profusion, production and perfume ; and the very name of 
Eden has met the eye as a gem, in the verse which it adorned. 
Nay, it has been transferred by God himself to the world of 
glory, and become one of the appropriate and favorite^ designa- 
tions of Heaven, in reference to the attainment of salvation, 
as the noblest and all-satisfying recompense of reward to the 
faithful adherents of Christianity. To him that overcometh, saith 
our Saviour, 7* will give to eat of the tree of life, ivhich is in the 
midst of the Paradise of God, 

The pagans, as well as the ancient philosophers, entertained a 
strange variety of opinions respecting the locality and constitu- 
tion of the heavens or firmament, and the occupations of its 
multitudinous inhabitants. In ancient astronomy, the ethereal 
heavens were represented as an orb, or a circular region, in 



RESIDENCE AND SOCIETY. 



185 



which the number of the heavens varied according to the differ- 
ent or apparently independent motions of the celestial bodies. 
Other philosophers make their enumeration to correspond with 
that of the seven planets. The region of the fixed stars was 
denominated the stellar firmament. Ptolemy included in his 
system nine heavens, to which Alphonso, king of Castile, added 
a tenth or crystalline heaven, to remedy some irregularity in 
his astronomical theory, and over which was drawn the empy- 
real heaven, which was appropriated as the particular residence 
of Deity. Others, again, admitted into their hypotheses a large 
plurality of heavens. Eudoxus specifies twenty, Callipus thirty, 
Regiomontanus thirty-three, Aristotle forty-seven, and Fran- 
castor seventy. Amongst the heathens, heaven was considered 
as the special residence of their gods, into which no mortals 
were admitted, after death, unless they were accounted worthy 
of deification, whilst the souls of good men were assigned to the 
Elysian fields. 

In modern astronomy the term heaven is employed to denote 
the ethereal expanse in which the stars, planets, comets, &c, are 
disposed, and called by Moses the firmament, recorded as 
the work of the second day's creation ; whilst recent scientific 
discoveries have ascertained more correctly the laws which re- 
gulate the planetary motions of the solar system, and accord- 
ingly exploded the errors of ancient and numerous theories. 

• Plato gives a description of heaven, bearing so close a re- 
semblance to the magnificent representations of Isaiah and St. 
John, that Eusebius charges the philosopher with plagiary. 

Description of Plate. — The plate is designed to represent 
the scriptural residence of angels. In the centre is an hiero- 
glyphic of the Trinity, on each side of which is presented an 
emblematic figure of the second and third Persons of the God- 
head, encircled by adoring angels and worshipping saints, as 
described by Saint John the apostle " And round about the 
9 



186 



BESEDENCE AND SOCIETY. 



throne were four and twenty seats ; and upon the seats I saw 
four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment, and 
they had on their heads crowns of gold. The four and twenty 
elders fall down before Him that sat upon the throne, and wor- 
ship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns be- 
fore the throne, saying, Thou art worthy to receive glory and 
honor and power ; for thou hast created all things, and for thy 
pleasure they are and were created," Eev. xiv. 4, 10, 11. 

(; Princes to his imperial Xame, 

Bend their bright sceptres down ; 
Dominions, Thrones, and Powers rejoice, 
To see Him wear the crown. 

u Archangels sound his lofty praise 
Through every heavenly street ; 
And lay their highest honors down, 
Submissive at his feet. ;; — Watts. 

" Legions of Angels, strong and fair, 
In countless armies shine ; 
And swell his praise with golden h arps, 
Attuned to songs divine.' 7 — Gregg. 



EMPLOYMENTS AND PURSUITS. 



We have now readied and cheerfully ascend the Pisgah 
of our interesting and important subject, from whose ele- 
vated and sequestered summit, with the eye of our faith un- 
dimmed, and the force of our hopes unabated, we are 
vouchsafed a goodly and animating prospect of that hea- 
venly Canaan which we anticipate, when it shall please 
the Lord God to speak to us in the summons of death, and 
withdraw us from the turmoil, vocations, and entanglements 
of the devious windings of our passage through this wilder- 
ness world, being called to worship Him in the eternal rest 
and unfading beatitude of the promised city and glorious 
temple of the celestial Jerusalem. 

Before we proceed further, however, it may be expedient 
to advert to the objection which has been mooted, of the im- 
probability of the continued agency and ministrations of 
an gels , because of their non-appearance, in visible forms, 
since the days of the apostles, and to which objection it is 
deemed only requisite to reply, that the canon of Scripture 
being closed, and the last dispensation of Divine purpose 
having been ushered in by those signs and wonders, instru- 
mentalities and manifestations, whose miraculous interven- 
tions were needed to establish the divine origin and perma- 
nent continuance of the economy and institution of Christi- 
anity — until the " consummation of all things," according to 
fulfilled, as well as unfulfilled prophecies, — are now with- 



188 



EMPLOYMENTS AND PURSUITS. 



drawn, as not requiring any additional confirmation of their 
truth and binding obligations. " To the law and to the 
testimony ^ if they speak not according to this word, it is 
because there is no light in them." Isaiah viii. 10. If 
they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be 
persuaded , though one rose from the dead. Luke xvi. 31. 

During the patriarchal, Mosaic, and prophetical dispensa- 
tions, Jehovah was pleased to manifest his will, and fore- 
show his gracious purposes, and foretell his threatened 
judgments by instructive dreams, informing visions, audible 
voices., and the apparition of angelic messengers, to awaken 
the attention, excite the obedience, and confirm the faith of 
those who put their trust in Him, in relation to the pro- 
cedures of his providence, and the promises of Almighty 
grace, during the dawning periods of Christianity, prefigured 
in the types and shadows of the Aaronic priesthood, until 
their complete accomplishment in the meridian glory of the 
present and final economy of divine purpose in the Revela- 
tion of Christ Jesus, the Great Antitype, who hath brought 
life and immortality to light by the gospel ; and, there- 
fore, we conclude, that with the age of miracles, the super- 
natural interposition of the visible appearance of angels is 
withdrawn, as unnecessary, and contrary to the wisdom of 
God, in the superfluous exhibition of miraculous operation 
and confirmatory evidence, beyond the necessities of human 
reason and the requisite apprehensions of an acquiescent 
faith.* 

No less futile is the suggestion, that the doctrine of an- 
gelic ministration is of too speculative a character to pro- 

* God sends not angels now to propose new articles of faith, or to give 
new laws to men, he having fully furnished the rule of our religion by Jesus 
Christ And as for interpretations of Scripture^ none must be received that 
agree not with the context and the analogy of faith. — Pneumatologia. 



It 



7 /;< / n- 

im) It 



ml 



m 



GUARDIAN ANGEL. 



EMPLOYMENTS AND PUKSTJITS. 



189 



duce sufficiently edifying results. The eternal love of God 
and the blessings of free grace, — the inscrutable decree of 
the sovereignty of a special and divine election, — justifica- 
tion by faith, together with our adoption as the children of 
God — the mediation and intercession of Christ, — the joys of 
heaven, and the sanctifying influences of the Holy Ghost — 
as the essential doctrines of an orthodox Christianity, are 
not a whit less speculative, as regards the tendency of their 
practical effects, and especially designed to promote a life of 
holiness, and a preparation for the worship and employ- 
ments of the heavenly state. 

By such a process of intangible objections, it is evident 
that we should be deprived of the very vitalities and princi- 
ples of an evangelical faith, rendering our hopes nothing 
better than a fleeting shadow, instead of an invaluable 
substance,— a lifeless skeleton, instead of an animated body. 

Various have been the opinions of expositors as to the 
time when the angels commenced their ministrations on this 
earth ; some supposing, that they are exercised as soon as 
we are quickened into existence, in the womb, founded on 
the following passages. — Psalm cxxxix. 14-16 ; Luke i. 41. 
Others, at the time of birth, of baptism or regeneration. 
Every supposable case of danger to which infancy and child- 
hood are liable, angels are supposed to watch and provide 
a suitable protection. The imprudences of mothers, the 
carelessness of nurses, the generally unguarded and haz- 
ardous circumstances to which the young from the earliest 
dawn of existence are exposed, receive the especial notice 
and provision of these celestial and benevolent intelligences, 
as their guardian angels. # 

* Plato was of opinion that children are no sooner born, but they have 
angels to attend them, which first produce and then conjoin the soul to the 
body, and after they are grown to maturity, teach and govern them. 



190 



EMPLOYMENTS AND PURSUITS. 



The ancient philosophers, as well as some modern com- 
mentators, believe that every individual has appointed unto 
him a guardian angel that attends upon his welfare through 
all the different stages of this mortal life ; whilst in the 
Scriptures we find mention of several instances in which an- 
gels were sent by divine commission to instruct and protect 
the favorites of God's special regard, or to act as the execu- 
tioners of the divine displeasure against all ungodliness of 
men, or to make known his purposes respecting the dispen- 
sations of his mercy to mankind. It was through the in- 
Otrumentality of an angel that the prediction was given to 
Kagar respecting the future character and prosperity of 
IsLmael. The angel Gabriel informed Daniel of a variety 
of events which would befall the Jewish nation ; and also 
visited with divine messages and announcements, Zaeharias, 
and the Virgin Mary. They were angels that were enter- 
tained by the hospitable and venerable patriarch, and who 
communicated to Abraham the will and gracious purposes of 
Jehovah respecting the birth of Isaac, and the wonderful 
events which were to happen to the nations who were to 
spring from him. Throughout the extraordinary and event- 
ful periods of his pilgrimage, angels constantly appeared to 
the patriarch Jacob, and conveyed to him counsel, and mi- 
nistered to his behalf, and that of his family. Angels 
rescued Lot and his daughters from the destruction of 
Sodom. An angel of the Lord attended the Israelites 
during their journeyings in the wilderness ; and the moral 
law was received by the disposition of angels on Mount 
Sinai. 

Joshua, the successor of Moses, was encouraged by the 
appearance of an angel in the martial character of the 
captain of the host of the Lord, whilst he was meditating 
an attack on the city of Jericho (Joshua v. 13,-14); but 



EMPLOYMENTS AND PURSUITS. 



191 



who, however, by most commentators, has been considered 
as the Angel-Jehovah. An angel appeared to the valorous 
Gideon, bidding him deliver the Israelites out of the hands 
of the Midianites — whilst a mighty angel destroyed in one 
night an hundred fourscore and five thousand of the veterans 
of the army of Sennacherib.* 

In the New Testament the employments of angels on be- 
half of those who are chosen of God, by the redemption 
which is in Christ Jesus, are rendered prominently conspi- 
cuous. " Are they not all ministering spirits " says St. 
Paul, " sent forth to minister for them who shall be the 
heirs of salvation ?" In this passage we are obviously 
taught, that ministering to the saints, without any distinc- 
tion or exception of rank or station, is a permanent employ- 
ment of angels. They conducted Joseph and Mary to 
Egypt, Philip to the eunuch, and Cornelius to St. Peter, 
who obtained from the apostle a knowledge of the Gospel, to 
the salvation of himself, his family, and his friends. They 
also comforted the apostle and his companions after the re- 
surrection, Paul, immediately before his shipwreck, and 
the church of Christ universally. Often when the children 
of affliction are murmuring under the disciplinary dispensa- 
tions of God's Providence and Grace, some ministering 
angel is on the wing, bearing the succor they require, the 
comfort they need, and putting to the blush the language of 
their unbelieving hearts. f 

* Otway tells us, in describing the horrors of the plague, which almost 
depopulated London, that the " Destroying Angel" stretched his arms over 
the city. 

" Till in th ? untrodden streets unwholesome grass 
Grew of great stalk and color gross, 
A melancholic poisonous green." 
f The afflicted soul makes sad complaints sometimes. ' I am quite for- 
saken 5 I am left alone ; I have none to take my part ; noTriends left me in 



192 



EMPLOYMENTS AND PURSUITS. 



One particular employment of angels is to attend the beds 
of dying saints, and sustain them by the consolations and 
hopes of faith, preparatory to their entrance on the joys 
and fruition of heaven. In a peculiar sense, during their 
trials, temptations, sufferings, and on the eve of their de- 
parture from this world of tribulation and woe, 

" Bright seraphs dispatched from the throne, 
Repais to their stations assigned ; 
And angels elect are sent down 
To guard the elect of mankind." 

Conjecturally, some special office is assigned to each one 
of the heavenly host. One indeed may superintend the af- 
fairs and prosperity of a kingdom, while another watches 
the slumbering babe in a cottage cradle, — others are appoint- 
ed to meet the several necessities of the adopted children of 
God who are constantly assailed by the opposition of Satan 
and his angels ; thereby hindering their growth in Christian 
graces, and their advancement in the way of holiness and 
heaven. Accordingly, in the apocalyptic representations of 
St. John, we behold them controlling evil spirits ; wielding 
the elements of this world ; producing, directing, and bring- 
ing to a termination the great convulsions of time ; convey- 
all the world !" Oh, do not say so all the holy angels are thy hearty 
friends, and have charge of thee, and with the greatest alacrity and cheer- 
fulness attend that charge. — Pneumatologia, 1701. 

Therefore, most likely, 'tis as God made the stars to have their influence 
on the plants and animals, so he made the angels that are higher than the 
stars, for some service in the world, to he the instruments of his providence, 
— Idem. 

How merciful art thou, O Lord, that thou thinkest us not safe enough in 
our weak and slender walls, but thou sendest thine angels to he our keepers 
and guardians. — Ambrose, Ministration and Communion of Angels. 

It is better to think that there are guardian spirits than that there are 
no spirits to guard us. — Sir T. Browne, Christian MoraL 



EMPLOYMENTS AND PUESTJITS. 



193 



ing the souls of the just to the paradise of God, and severing 
the wicked from the good at the day of judgment. 

One of the most solemn and affecting exhibitions of angelic 
ministration is presented in the dolorous narratives of the 
Evangelists, which relate the descent of angels to relieve 
our Savior in the wilderness of Satanic temptation, and 
during his agony in the garden of Gethsemane. What a 
mysterious, solemn, and wonderful mission for holy angels 
to perform, in rendering such services and homage to Him 
who was the Lord of Angels. 

The " innumerable company of angels," — of the glori- 
ous host dispersed throughout the illimitable universe, is 
clearly intimated by the apostle as beyond all the com- 
putation of mortal arithmetic, nevertheless, several refer- 
ences in Scripture will somewhat aid our conceptions in 
this particular. To Jacob, at Bethel they appeared on 
the mystic ladder, ascending and descending, in multi- 
tudes ; and when he returned from Padan-aram, u the 
angels of the Lord met him," and he called the place 
" Mahanaim" or the two hosts. They are represented 
by the Psalmist as constituting many hosts,— Psalm ciii. 
21 ; cxlvii. 2. Micaiah, the prophet, " saw the Lord sit- 
ting upon his throne, and all the hosts of heaven standing 
by him, on his right hand and on his left." — 1 Kings xxii. 
19. " The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even 
thousands of angels." — Psalm lxviii. IT. Elisha's servant, 
when c< the Lord opened his eyes and he saw ; and behold 
the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round 
about Elisha." — 2 Kings vi. 17. Daniel beheld in the vis- 
ion of God, " thousand thousands minister unto him, and 
ten thousand times ten thousand stand before him." — Dan. 
vii. 10. St. John, " I beheld, and I heard the voice of 
many angels round about the throne, and the number of 
9* 



194 



EMPLOYMENTS AND PURSUITS. 



them was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of 
thousands. " — Rev. v. 11.* 

Respecting the pursuits of angels in the heavenly state, 
we can form but a very inadequate conception, in the pre- 
sent life, and must await our arrival in those bright and 
blessed mansions which Christ has prepared for them that 
love Him. But from the declarations of Scripture we 
know that they are deeply occupied in investigating, with 
intense earnestness, the astonishing developments of the 
Divine Majesty in the works of creation and providence, 
and the wondrous economy of grace and salvation. In the 
celestial temple angels are engaged in the most exalted ser- 
vices, contemplating the perfection, and celebrating the 
praises of the Great Eternal. 

To such ennobling and glorious pursuits who would not 
aspire, and devoutly prepare with a moral and spiritual 
meetness, to join the resounding trisagion of the celestial 
hierarchy. 

Holy , holy j holy. Lord God Almighty, which was, which 
is, and is to come. Thou art icorthy, 0 Lord, to receive 
glory, honor, and power, for thou hast created all things y 
and for thy pleasure they are and icere created. 

TRADITIONARY AND AXECDOTICAL. 

The Talmudical traditions and Rabbinical writings, with their 
characteristic fecundity, abound with singular fictions respecting 
the guardianship and employment of angels ; — the Jews indulg- 
ing the vain conceit that the appearance of angels, and their 
ministrations by the commission of God, were only manifested 

Some of the fathers, with the view of representing the number of the 
angels compared with mankind, refer to the parable of the ninety-nine 
sheep left by the shepherd on the mountains, while he went in search of 
the strayed one, meaning apostate humanity.. 



EITPLOY^IEXTS AND PURSUITS. 



195 



in Judea. Regarding the presidency of angels, the Rabbinical 
"writers give the following statement, over the seventy nations 
into which they say the human family was divided at the confu- 
sion and subsequent dispersion of Babel. 

" The Lord said to the seventy angels which stood before 
him, come now, and let us go down, and there let us confound 
their language, so that a man may not understand the language 
of his companion. And the word of the Lord was discovered 
against that city, and with it the seventy nations, — and their 
respective languages, which each angel respectively wrote with 
his hand." Another says. " The earth consisted of seven cli- 
mates, and every climate divided into ten parts. Then was each 
country and people assigned to its respective prince, and these 
princes are called gods of the world. Thus were the seventy 
nations divided amongst the seventy princes ; the blessed God 
taking no part in them, because He is pure. One rabbi as- 
signs to these angels the function of " moving the heavenly 
bodies ; another affirms them to be " the souls of the heavenly 
bodies ;" and another asserts them to be no other than the 
"stars and planets." Among some of the employments of an- 
gels, the rabbies say, that the ark had no rudder, and was steered 
and guided by them ; and-that God used their services in call- 
ing together " every living thing of all flesh, cattle, and creep- 
ing things of all sorts," when God commanded Noah to assem- 
ble them for embarkation. 

Guardian angels, according to the notions of the Jewish rab- 
bins, perform very important services in favor of men. They 
say, " Every man has his angel who speaks for him, and prays 
for him ; as it is said (Psalm lxv. 2), " O Thou that hearest 
prayer;" that is, the prayer of the angel, who is the Maskal or 
guardian of men. It follows, " Unto thee shall all flesh come." 
Wherefore, the angels are not allowed to say their hymns above, 
till the Israelites have said them here below ; for all that a man 
does is imitated by his Mashal, who performs it above, hi the 
same manner in which it is performed here below, A man 



196 



EMPLOYMENTS AND PURSUITS. 



should never ask his necessaries of God in the Syriac or Chal- 
daic language. The ministering angels do not attend, to carry 
any one's prayers before God, who petitions for his necessaries 
in the Syriac language. This is meant of one single man who 
prays for himself ; by a whole congregation it may be done in 
all languages, because the presence of God is amongst them. 
There are three who weave or make garlands out of the prayers 
of the Israelites ; the first is Achtariel, the second Metraton, and 
the third Sandalphon. Behold ! these three, who make gar- 
lands, do not attempt to make garlands of any other prayers ; 
but only of such as are made in the Hebrew tongue. 

The rabbies represent the removal of men from the present 
life as effected by the instrumentality of angels, whom they de- 
nominate angels of death. The execution of the mortal sen- 
tence, on those who die in the land of Israel is assigned to Ga- 
briel, whom they style an angel of mercy ; and those who die 
in other countries are dispatched by the hand of Samnael, the 
prince of demons." These two are deputies of Metraton, to 
whom God daily makes known those who are appointed to die. 
These deputies do not themselves bring away any souls out of 
the world ; but each of them employs some of his host for that 
purpose. 

The Jewish cabalists single out some particular angels as pre- 
ceptors to the patriarchs ; — to Adam was given Eaziel, — to 
Abraham, Zidekiel, — to Moses, Metraton, — to Elias, Malashiel, 
— and to David, Gerviel, &c. 

Amongst the chief spirits of the Mahometan heaven, such as 
Gabriel, the angel of revelation, — Israfil, by whom the last 
trumpet is to be sounded, — and Azrael, the angel of death, there 
were also a number of subaltern intelligences, appointed to pre- 
side over the different stages or ascents into which the celestial 
world was divided. Thus Kelail governs the fifth heaven, while 
Sadiel, the presiding spirit of the third, is employed in steady- 
ing the motions of the earth, which would be in a "constant 



EMPLOYMENTS AND PURSUITS. 



197 



state of agitation if this angel did not keep his foot planted 
upon its orb. 

Amongst other miraculous interpositions in favor of Ma- 
homet, recorded in the Alcoran, was the appearance of five 
thousand angels on his side, at the battle of Bedr. 

The Grecian academies entertained the belief that spirits be- 
hold all the actions of men, and rendered them assistance 
accordingly. That they, moreover, are acquainted with all our 
apprehensions, cogitations, and circumstances; and when the 
soul is delivered from the body, they bring it before the high 
Judge. That then they are questioned about our good or bad 
actions, their testimony being much prevalent either to exoner- 
ate or aggravate our doom. Porphirius asserts that many 
spirits or genii have the charge and custody of every man ; one 
having a care of his health — another indulgent over Ins beauty 
and features — and another to infuse into him courage and con- 
stancy. 

The ancient Persians supposed that Ormund appointed thirty 
angels to preside successively over the days of the month ; and 
twelve greater ones to assume the government of the months, 
themselves ; among whom Bahman (to whom Ormund com- 
mitted the custody of all animals, except man) was the greatest 
Mihr. The angel of the seventh month was the spirit which 
watched over the affairs of friendship and love. Chtir had the 
care of the disk of the sun. Mah was agent for the concerns of 
the moon. Isphandarmaz was the tutelar genius of good and 
virtuous women. The Persians, also, had a certain office or 
prayer for every day of the month, addressed to the particular 
angel who presided over it, and whom they called Sizouze. 

The subjoined anecdotes are chiefly extracted from Isaac 
Ambrose's Discourses on the Communion and 2£inistry of 
Angels ; respecting whom, in a biographical sketch, the fol- 
lowing particulars are given : — He was a native of Lanca- 
shire, England, and descended from a highly respectable 



19S 



EMPLOYMENTS AST) PUESriTS. 



family. In 1621 he matriculated in Brazen-nose College, 

of the University of Oxford, and took the degree of bachelor 
of arts. In consequence of some difference of opinion and 
the laxity of morals, which then prevailed, he seceded from 
the Church of England, though he invariably retained her 
form of episcopal worship against the remonstrances of the 
Independents, with whom he had ecclesiastically connected 
himself. Having notified to his friends, a few days preced- 
ing the time of his death, he was found dead in his chair, in 
his study, having that morning sent to the printer the last 
page of his work on Angels. " His character may be com- 
prised in a few expressions. He was holy in life, happy in 
his death, favored of God, and held in high estimation by 
all good men. His writings, like those of Baxter 3 have a 
vigorous pulse beating in every page, and it would be diffi- 
cult to select a paragraph in which the author does not ap- 
pear in earnest for the salvation of his readers. He was 
one of those excellent divines who distinguished and adorned 
the turbulent age in which he lived, amidst those ecclesias- 
tical troubles for which it was remarkable ; and who, in their 
combined influences, irradiated the moral gloom which then 
overspread the land ; and it is to their indefatigable exer- 
tions that we are indebted for many of the religious blessings 
which we now enjoy. He was a star of no common magni- 
tude and effulgence in that bright constellation of worthies, 
who have enriched the world by their writings, bequeathing 
a noble example to posterity, of whom, indeed, the world 
was not worthy.'' 

God does, by his angels, preserve and keep good ministers 
from the hands of their persecutors, as is reported by great di- 
vines of unquestionable credit, in the following instance ■: — " One 
Grynaeus. a German divine, a learned and holy man. coming 
from Heidelberg to Spire, and going to hear a certain preacher 



EMPLOYMENTS AND PURSUITS. 



199 



in that city, that did then let fall some erroneous propositions 
of Popish doctrine, was thereat greatly offended, and presently 
went to the preacher, exhorting him to abandon his error ; the 
preacher seemed to take it well, and pretended to be desirous 
of some further discourse with him, and so they parted. Gry- 
nseus going to his lodging, reports the passages of the late 
conference to those that sat at table with him, amongst whom 
Melancthon was one ; he was called out of the room to speak 
with a stranger newly come into the house, and going forth he 
finds a grave old man of a goodly countenance, seemly and 
richly attired, who, in a friendly and grave manner tells him 
that within one hour there would come to their inn certain 
officers to apprehend Giynseus, and to carry him to prison, will- 
ing him to charge Grynseus with all possible speed to fly, and 
requiring Melancthon to see that this advantage was not neglect- 
ed. Instantly Melancthon returned to the company, related the 
words of this strange monitor, and hasted Grynseus away, who 
had no sooner taken boat but he was eagerly sought for at his 
said lodging. No doubt this was an angel which God had sent 
to deliver this goodly minister from persecution. 

Another worthy minister who was sought after by his perse- 
cutors, crept into a dark hole in the house, to hide himself, and 
as soon as he was got in, a spider drew a web over the mouth 
of the hole. When the searchers came, one of them would 
have looked in there for the man, where, indeed he was, but the 
other observing that there was a spider's web over the hole, 
concluded he could not be there, and therefore they ceased their 
search. What an artifice of the good man's angel-guardian was 
this to preserve him ? Though persecutors are crafty and cruel, 
yet our keepers are more cunning than they, and can out- wit 
them. 

Mr. Hawks being burnt to death, was desired by his friends 
to give them (if he could) some sign, by lifting up his hand, if 
he found his pains such as were tolerable, and might be borne 
with patience, and he did so ; when his speech was gone, his 



200 



EMPLOYMENTS AND PURSUITS. 



body burning, and he thought to be dead, he lifted up his hands 
over his head, all on fire, and elapt them thrice together, which 
caused a great shout amongst his friends. 

Mr. James Bingham, when the flames had half consumed 
him, cried out in the fire : " O ye papists ! ye look for mira- 
cles ; here now ye may see a miracle ; for in this fire I feel no 
more pain than if I were on a bed of roses !" If angels could 
keep Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace 
without any hurt, why might they not keep this holy martyr in 
the flames without pain, though he died in them ? He is a very 
uncharitable wretch that will not believe he found as he spake. 
'Tis, I confess, a wonderful instance, that 'tis usual for God to 
indulge his martyrs more than ordinary support in fiery trials." 

Mr. Holland, the day before his death, on a sudden, while one 
was reading, said, " O stay your reading. What brightness is 
this I see ? It is my Savior's shine. Now farewell world, 
welcome Heaven. The day-star from on high has visited my 
heart." And then turning to the minister who preached his 
funeral sermon, he said, " I desire you speak this for me, that 
God deals familiarly with man ; I feel his mercy, I see his ma- 
jesty, whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell, God 
he knoweth ; but I see things that are unutterable." 

Many have told the very day and hour of their departure ; 
and, says Bishop Hall, these revelations and ecstacies whence 
are they ? If a man without all observation of physical criti- 
cism, shall receive, and give intelligence many days before, 
what day and hour shall be his last, what cause can we attribute 
this to but our attending angels ? And when joy arises not to 
such an overflowing height, yet does it frequently begin our 
heaven on earth, and the fears of death are fully vanquished, 
and the good man can see it, and feel it coming without any 
regret. 

Angels are with the saints in the verv minute of dving, tak- 
ing away the terribleness of it. There is an aversion in na- 
ture to death ; but, says Mr. Ambrose, the body's passage 



EMPLOYMENTS AND PURSUITS. 



201 



through the grave, though it be dark and dismal, yet it is safe 
and secure. The grave is but a sleeping-place {they shall rest 
in their beds), and their soul's angels guard safe to heaven, and 
thus minister to the saints in death. 

" Oh would God, ye saw what I see (said Mrs. Stubbs, on 
her death bed). Behold, I see infinite millions of angels stand 
about me, with fiery chariots to defend me, these are appointed 
of God to carry my soul unto the kingdom of heaven." 

Immediately after the separation of the soul from the body, 
the angels receive it, and carry it to heaven. They are a con- 
voy for the departing souls of the godly, to bring them to their 
felicity, though how they do it we cannot understand. They 
keep them company at least, and they are a guard to them as 
they pass through the Devil's territories ; for the^Devil is called 
the Prince of the power of the air. He, with all his hellish 
crew, are the inhabitants of that region, and souls in their jour- 
ney to heaven must pass through the air, and the angels wait 
upon them as a convoy. 

The Devil drags the souls of wicked men to hell, when they 
die ; and angels conduct the souls of good men to heaven. 
Such honor have all the saints. The poorest and meanest of 
them will be thus royally attended. Lazarus was a beggar, 
and he went in state to heaven. 

Description of Plates.— Plate 1. — The guardian angel, at- 
tracted by the simplicity and innocency of childhood, presses 
his charge close to his side, with his arm around her neck ; 
whilst the child, with a natural and confiding fondness, leans 
against him. With a dignified and benignant countenance, the 
angel extends his arm in the attitude of protection, as if ward- 
ing off approaching danger. Plate 2. — Represents the angelic 
hosts celebrating the completion of the finished work of crea- 
tion, — " When the morning stars sang together, and all the 
sons of God shouted for joy]" — Job xxxviii. 7. Plate 3. — Rep- 



202 



EMPLOYMENTS AND PURSUITS. 



resents the final employment of angels in tins world, on the ar- 
rival of the resurrection morn and the judgment day. Christ 
" on the throne of his glory," attended by holy angels. On one 
side is the recording angel, opening the book of life, in which are 
enrolled the names of the " heirs of salvation." In the space 
between the judgment seat, and those arising out of their 
graves, the archangel is sounding the trumpet which summons 
the assembling universe. 



MOEAL AND CONCLUSION. 




Verbum Domini manet in eternum. 

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, 
for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. — 2 Tim. iii. 16. 

Upon the opening of our divine and delightful subject, 
we intimated the intention of furnishing a synopsis of some 
of the confirmatory proofs, and illustrative facts demonstra- 
tive and recommendatory of the authenticity, antiquity, lit- 
erature and inspiration of the Scriptures, to be received as 
the unimpeachable standard of faith and practice^ requir- 
ing the entire dissociation of all negative assertions and 
mental reserves or suppositions, originating either in the 
unhallowed pride of the human intellect or the Pharaoh- 
like reluctance of the heart to yield an implicit obedience or 
acquiescent submission to the authority and precepts, the 
truths and doctrines contained in Holy Writ.* 

* The mass of evidence in favor of the divine inspiration of the Bible is 



20i 



MORAL AXD COXCLUSION. 



From the days of the apostles, (when the philosophizing 
Greeks arrogated to themselves the pompous title of Icxboi 
and <pL/~o(jo(poi, wise men and philosophers^) to the present 
period, this state of mind and disposition have been the 
principal source from vrhich have arisen all those ^heresies 
which have disfigured the benevolent character and pervert- 
ed the gracious designs of Christianity, producing the most 
horrible persecutions, to all that superadded variety of evil 
in religion, morals and society, engendered by the violence 
of a sanguinary discord, the pretensions of a pseudo-philoso- 
phy, and the blasphemous negations of a presumptuous in- 
fidelity, whose name, indeed, is Legion. 

Even those who have professed to have received the reve- 
lation of the Bible, too frequently employ themselves in en- 
deavoring to help out other systems and formula of beliefs, 
for which no sanction can be shown, in the obvious bearing 
and spirit of the Sacred Scriptures, under the disguise of 
new constructions, rejection of alleged interpolated passages, 
allegorical explanation of inferences of a directly antagonis- 
tical tendency ; and for which conduct nothing can be more 
irrational, inconsistent and injurious to the reception and 

too great to be set aside by anything short of scientific demonstration. Were 
the Scriptures to teach that the whole is not equal to its parts, the mind could 
not, indeed, believe it. But if it taught a truth which was only contrary to 
the probable deductions of science, science. I say, must yield to the Scrip- 
tures ; for it would be more reasonable to doubt the probabilities of a single 
science, than the various and most satisfactory evidence on which revela- 
tion rests. I do not believe that the probabilities of any science are in col- 
lision with Scripture. But the supposition is made to show how strong are 
my convictions of the evidence and paramount importance of the Bible. 

Dr. Edward Hitchcock, Religion of Geology, 

Adam no sooner fell, but philosophy fell with him, and became a com- 
mon strumpet for carnal reason to commit frolic with, and oh ! how have 
the lascivious wits of lapsed human nature, ever since, gone a whoring after 
vain philosophy-. — Gale, Preface^ Court of the Gentiles. 



MORAL AND CONCLUSION. 



205 



utility of the Scriptures than to profess to accept them as a 
divine Revelation, and at the same time to constitute human 
opinion as the standard by which their declarations are to be 
tested ; virtually invoking the awful consequences of sitting 
in judgment upon Deity, (who is the acknowledged author of 
them,) and to determine whether He has declared truth or 
spoken falsehood ! Verily ! must not angels wonder to see 
frail and fallen humanity thus engaged ? 

As corroborative of the importance and doctrine of the 
subject which we have discussed, and now deferentially sub- 
mit to the candid and serious consideration of the Christian, 
as well as the philosophic and general reader, we offer the 
following appropriate and conciliatory remarks of President 
D wight : — " In the Scriptures we find an order, or rather a 
kind of beings described, which were never known, nor 
imagined by any person who did not derive his acquaintance 
with them from that book. They are beings who have a 
character as appropriate as that of man, as far, as finite in- 
telligences can be supposed to differ from each other. Yet 
the character is complete, entire, and of a piece with itself. 
Every attribute is suited to every other ; all are angelic ; 
all are heavenly. A station is also assigned to them, of a 
dignity and importance, perfectly fitted to their character, 
and worthy of being filled by such beings. Employments 
are also marked out for them, altogether becoming both the 
station and the character ; angelic employments — suited to 
the Sons of God, the Morning Stars of Heaven. Can it be 
reasonably supposed that these things were devised by human 
imagination 1 Have similar things been ever thus devised 1 
The fancy of man has, in all nations and ages, delighted it- 
self with the employment of fashioning imaginary beings, of 
a nature superior to ours. What have been its produc- 
tions 1 The gods, demons, and genii of ancient, and the elves, 



206 



MOEAL AKD CONCLUSION. 



sylphs, and fairies of modern times. But how do all these 
shrink from a comparison with angels ? They are little, 
base, trifling, sordid, and sinful enough to have been copied 
with a few easy additions from the characteristics of men. 
But where does this world furnish materials for the compo- 
sition of an angelical character ? What originals has it pre- 
sented, from which the portrait could be drawn ?* 

A multitude of writers in the Scriptures, fifteen at least , 
have described these glorious beings with the most perfect 
harmony, and without a single discordant idea. In the 
mean time their descriptions are extensively various, com- 
prising many particulars, and wholly independent of each 
other. All the writers are in this respect, as well as others, 
originals. Not one is a copier; not one a plagiary; yet 
their representations are universally noble, sublime, digni- 
fied, beautiful and lovely, beyond anything found in the 
most perfect writings of uninspired men. To which may be 
added a similar testimony to the authority of the Bible, 
from the eccentric, erudite and ironical Gale, in his preface 
to the "Court of the Gentiles." " But such was the infinite 
benignity and condescension of sovereign light and love, as 
that he vouchsafed to irradiate a spot of the lapsed world, 
even of his holy land and elect seed, with fresh and glorious 
rays of the light and life conveyed in and by the sacred Re- 

* If then, we find a book winch professes to be a revelation from heaven, 
a system of moral laws which can clearly be shown to be the basis of the 
moral order of the universe, and which are calculated to secure the eternal 
happiness of all intellectual beings, it forms a strong presumptive proof, if 
not an unanswerable argument, that the contents of that book are of celestial 
origin, and were dictated by Him who gave birth to the whole system of 
created beings ; — a moral demonstration that a power and intelligence supe- 
rior to the human mind, must have suggested such sublime conceptions and 
such astonishing ideas, since there are no such prototypes to be found with- 
in the range of the human understanding. — Dr. Dick, Philosophy of Religion, 



MOEAL AND CONCLUSION. 



207 



velation. And oh ! how bright, how ravishing were those 
heavens of divine light which shone on Judea ? Were not 
all the adjacent parts illuminated thereby 1 Yea, did not 
Greece itself (esteemed the eye of the world) light her can- 
dle at this sacred fire % Were not all the Grecian schools 
hung with philosophic ornaments, or contemplations stolen 
out of the Judaic wardrobe 1 Were not Pythagoras's col- 
lege, Plato's academy, Aristotle's peripatum, Zeno's stoa, 
and Epicurus's garden all watered by rivulets, though in 
themselves corrupt, originally derived from the sacred 
streams of Siloam ? Whence had Phenicia, Egypt, Chal- 
dea, Persia, with our occidental parts, their barbaric philo- 
sophy, but from the sacred emanations of Zion V 

Our design in favor of the positive, prophetic, and miracu- 
lous evidence of the Inspiration of the Holy Bible, is so ably 
set forth by Dr. Townsend (whose classical learning and sin- 
cere Christianity no man will attempt to question), in the an- 
nexed statement, that we make no apology for its insertion 
or length, assured of the pleasure which its perusal will 
afford the reader, and his approbation accordingly. 

From the period of the dispersion of the Jews among the 
Egyptians and Babylonians, we find that the Greeks began to 
have more exalted and refined ideas of a Deity ; and that they 
applied themselves more particularly to that philosophy and 
literature, which contributed so eminently to raise them to the 
highest intellectual rank among ancient or modern nations. All 
the sects and schools of philosophy, in ancient Greece, origin- 
ated from the Ionic and Italic sects. The Ionic sect was founded 
by Thales, the Italic by Pythagoras. Thales was born about 
the year 640 before Christ, and is remarkable for being the first 
Grecian who taught a regular system of philosophy, and left a 
succession of disciples to establish and maintain it. He travel- 
ed into Egypt when he was a young man, and resided there 



208 MORAL AND CONCLUSION. 

several years. If he went into that country when at the age of 
twenty or twenty-five, and resided there ten or more years (and 
this period was not beyond that which was usually passed by 
the students in Egyptian learning), he would have been in 
Egypt when J ehoahaz, king of Judah, was brought there as a 
prisoner by Pharaoh Necho. The attention of the curious Greek 
must have been attracted by the various captives, strangers 
thus introduced into Egypt ; and while he improved himself in 
those sciences in which the Egyptians excelled, it is highly pro- 
bable that from conversing with these Jewish captives, he ac- 
quired some of those great and truly philosophical notions which 
he afterwards taught at his native Miletus, and in Greece. 

The chief of these opinions were, that the world was not eter- 
nal, but was made by God the Spirit, out of water, — an opinion 
which seems to have been derived from the Mosaic and Chris- 
tian doctrine, " the Spirit of God moved on the face of the 
waters that the world being God's workmanship, was exceed- 
ingly good and perfect ; that the universe was filled with invi- 
sible spirits, who inspect the actions of men. 

Thales was the first of the Greeks who made any philosophical 
inquiries into the nature and perfections of God ; for though, as 
Gale remarks, Orpheus, Linus, Homer, and Hesiod, had some 
traditions of God, their value was obscured by a mixture with 
pagan fables. Thales however delivered his knowledge concern- 
ing God in a more plain and simple manner. He first maintain- 
ed amongst the Greeks that God was the most ancient of 
beings ; and are evidently derived from purer sources than* from 
invented traditions or speculative heathen philosophy. From 
the Jews alone, therefore, with whom Thales became acquaint- 
ed in Egypt, could he have received those ideas of God and his 
Providence, which shine like a meteor through the dark mist oi 
the ignorance and blindness of that superstitious age. 

Thales was succeeded by Anaximander, Anaximines, and 
Anaxagoras, the friend and tutor of Pericles ; by Diogenes 
Apolloniates, and by Archelaus the instructor of Socrates. The 



MORAL AND CONCLUSION! 



209 



various sects which are referred to the Ionic school, are the So- 
cratic, founded by Socrates, among whose disciples and follow- 
ers are Xenophon, Plato, Euclid, and Alcibiades ; the Cyre- 
naic sect, founded by Aristippus ; the Megaric, established by 
Euclid at Megara ; the Eretriac or Eliac school, instituted by 
Phaedo at Elis ; the Academic, founded by Plato, whose school, 
after his death, was divided into the old, middle, and new aca- 
demies ; the Peripatetic, founded by Aristotle ; the Cynic, by 
Antisthenes ; the Stoic, by Zeno. These sects continued till 
the time of Christ ; and when St. Paul visited Athens, he found 
the Greeks still engaged in disputes, and inquiries into the mys- 
teries and difficulties of philosophy. Although the purest and 
most refined speculations of the best and most celebrated of 
these philosophers fall far short of the principles and morality 
inculcated by the Christian dispensation, they still served to 
advance the progress of Christianity, or rather they tended to 
diminish the superstitious reverence paid to the pagan deities. 
The commonest people became at least sensible that their philo- 
sophers only adhered to the religious ceremonies of the estab- 
lished superstition, from mere compliance with popular custom ; 
and the reflecting part of the community were divided, in a 
state of doubt and uncertainty : Socrates, in particular, declared 
that a teacher from heaven was necessary to impart instruction 
to mankind. 

Moral philosophy may be -considered as a light to the dark 
and ignorant age in which it flourished ; but when compared 
with Christianity, it is little less than the very darkness it so 
partially illuminated. Philosophy, at the height of its splendor, 
displayed only the corruption, the folly, and the degradation of 
the human mind when deprived of revelation. It was like the 
taper in a charnel house at midnight, which disperses the dark- 
ness of the tomb, and shows to the sickening spectator how 
melancholy is the sight of humanity, when bereaved of life and 
spirit. 

Though the accounts of Pythagoras are mingled with fable 
10 



210 



MOEAL AKD CONCLUSION. 



there is abundant authority to induce us to believe that this 
philosopher conversed likewise with the Jews of the dispersion, 
at Tyre, in Phoenicia, and probably at Mount Carmel, where it 
is said his walk was long shown. It is certain that he was in 
Egypt, and many suppose he was taken prisoner into that 
country either by Nebuchadnezzar, or by Cambyses. From 
Egypt he either went <% was taken to Babylon, where again he 
must have acquired an intimate knowledge of the Jews ; and in 
this latter place he is said to have had for an instructor Zabra- 
tus, or Nazaratus — whom the learned Selden supposes to have 
been Ezekiel — and Prideaux, Zoroaster. The exact period of 
the birth of Pythagoras is not certainly known. The accounts of 
his life, now extant, are uncertain and contradictory ; that which 
appears most probable and satisfactory informs us, that at the 
age of eighteen he consulted Thales at Miletus, who recommend- 
ed him to visit Egypt. 

Erom Miletus he proceeded to Tyre (the place of his nati- 
vity, though educated at Samos) ; from thence he travelled to 
Egypt, with letters to Amasis from Polycrates, tyrant of Samos. 
He quitted Egypt for Babylon, where he continued twelve 
vears, and conversed with Zabratus or Nazaratus. He is then 
supposed to have returned to his own country, and to have been 
at that time about fifty-six years of age. 

In the year 563 before Christ, the whole country of Judea 
was still desolate — not having recovered from its last ravage by 
Nebuzzaradan. In this year Nebuchadnezzar was restored from 
his lycanthropy, and the Jews were rising into distinction in 
the Persian empire. Leaving Judea and its refugees, whom he 
might have found both at Tyre and Carmel, Pythagoras pro- 
ceeded to Egypt. He would there meet with many of the 
Jews who had fled with Jeremiah from Judea, nineteen years 
preceding. Erom them, as well as from the natives, he would 
learn the fulfilment of that prophet's predictions respecting 
Apries. This and other circumstances exciting his curiosity, he 



MORAL AND CONCLUSION. 



211 



at last visited Babylon, where he is supposed to have arrived 
in the year 541, and two years before the death of Beltshazzar. 

During his residence of twelve years in Babylon, Pythagoras 
must have been a spectator of the wonderful events recorded in 
the Book of Daniel. The greatest statesman of the day in Ba- 
bylon was a Jew. As the time and manner of Ezekiel's death 
are unknown ; and as in this year, Ezekiel, if alive, would not 
be more than fifty-three years of age ; it is by no means impro- 
bable that he might have conversed, as tradition asserts, with 
that prophet. Pythagoras must have been informed of the de- 
cree of Cyrus, before Christ 536, for the return of the Jews, 
and he must have been acquainted with prophecies thereby ful- 
filled ; — it is not improbable that he was a wondering spectator 
of their departure for their own lands. At Babylon he un- 
doubtedly saw the school or universities established by the 
Jews ; for he introduced into his own country institutions 
which were characterized by regulations similar to those adopt- 
ed by the Jews. 

Struck and astonished at all he read or heard or saw of this 
persecuted and favored people, we cannot be surprised that he 
should have engrafted many of the purer truths of morality on 
his system of philosophy. 

Pythagoras quitted Babylon in 529, the same year that Cyrus 
died. It is probable his departure was accelerated by the cruel 
and tyrannical government of Cambyses, his successor. In this 
year the Greek philosopher returned home ; and dissatisfied 
with the political state of affairs at Samos, he taught his new 
system called the Italic philosophy, in the towns of Magara 
Grecia. The philosophy of Pythagoras, so far as it is known, 
may be described as a mixture of Persian, Grecian, and Egyp- 
tian superstitions, interwoven with Jewish doctrines, institutions, 
and customs. The numerous coincidences between his enact- 
ments and those of the Jews, are found in the similarity of dis- 
cipline established in his schools and colleges ; in his distinction 
between the perfect or the initiated, and the service the reXetog 



212 



MOEAL AND CONCLUSION*. 



and the veofivrog, or the U^fan and S^pD of the Jews ; in the cove- 
nant among the members of his colleges, in the use of salt as a 
sign of union or agreement, as well as some others. 

The doctrines of Pythagoras must have tended to remove 
many of the evils of polytheism and idolatry. He, acknowl- 
edged but one God, the Creator of the world. He had some 
idea of the sacred name of the Petragammaton of the Jews, 
which he revealed as a mystery to his disciples. He described 
the Deity in the very words of the Hebrew Scriptures, as the a , 
the to bv, the self-existent. He taught by this definition that God 
was infinite and eternal ; a truth which human reason, unassisted 
by divine revelation, has never yet discovered. Pie likewise 
instructed his disciples in the doctrine of a peculiar providence, 
particularly over good men — the necessity of pure worship — 
the immortality of the soul — the incorporeality of the Deity, 
His morality evidently sprung from a purer source than from 
the profane worship of pagan deities ; his golden verses (if they 
are certainly his) are evidently transcripts of the Mosaic pre- 
cepts ; and virtuous will be the life, and tranquil the death of 
that man who habitually observes the precepts they contain, 
and thrice reviews the actions of the day, before he resigns him- 
self to rest at night. 

The Italic sect flourished till the end of the reign of Alexan- 
der. It gave rise to the Eleatic, the Heraclitean, the Epicurean, 
and the Phyrrhonic sects, whose doctrines, however, differ ma- 
terially from those enforced by Pythagoras himself. When the 
best pagan philosophy, considered as a system, is compared with 
Christianity, the observations already made on the speculations 
of Thales are equally applicable. But when we consider this 
philosophy as a virtuous effort of the human mind to pene- 
trate through the darkness and superstition by which it was sur- 
rounded ; and gaining by these efforts, and the light borrowed 
from revelation, more pure ideas of morality, and more just no- 
tions of a Deity, we are called upon to acknowledge that philoso- 
phy was beneficial to man, and that those who acquiesced in the 



MORAL AXD CONCLUSION. 



213 



doctrines of Pythagoras, and received the better part of his sys- 
tem, must have been wiser and purer than their more ignorant 
or prejudiced countrymen, That the Greeks, therefore, were 
indebted to their intercourse with the Jews for the origin of 
their philosophy, is highly probable ; it is, therefore, no less 
probable, that their literature may be partly traced to the same 
source. From the temperance Pythagoras uniformly practised, 
it is probable that his life was extended to a late period. He is 
supposed to have perished in consequence of a political disturb- 
ance in the seventieth olympiad, about the year 563 before 
Christ. If this tradition be correct, he must at this time have 
entered his eighty-third or eighty-fourth year, 

vEschylus, the founder of the Greek drama, in its present form, 
would have been at that time about twentv-five vears of age • 
and though we are not acquainted with the particulars of his 
early life, we may naturally conclude that one so eminent would 
have carefully instructed himself in all the philosophy and 
learning of his age. A Pythagorean in principle, many of his 
sentiments are the same as those taught in the golden verses of 
Pythagoras. We very justly conclude, therefore, that the great 
tragedian was either personally acquainted with, and a disciple 
of the Samean ; or that he was well versed in the system pro- 
mulgated by that philosopher. Like many of his countrymen 
he gave offence to the people, by deviating from received opin- 
ions. In the mythology of iEschylus, Dr. Gray observes, there 
is frequent reference to principles originating in revelation. 
In the passage cited by Eusebius, he describes the Supreme 
God as a being who is carefully to be distinguished from mor- 
tals, having nothing resembling the body of man. At one time 
he declares, that God shines forth in unapproachable fire ; at 
another, he invests Him in the elements, appearing in the wind, 
the thunder, and the lightning ! He represents the ocean, the 
rocks, and the fountains as ministering to the Supreme Being ; 
the hills, and the earth, the depths of the sea, and the summit 
of the mountains, as trembling at His presence. The piercinp- 



214 MORAL AND CONCLUSION. 

eye of God he describes as overlooking all things, for the glory 
of the highest God is powerful. His celebrated scene in Persia, 
in which the shade of Darius is summoned by Atossa, is very 
similar to the account of the appearance of Samuel to Saul, 
as related in the narrative of the Witch of Endor. Many of the 
Christian fathers have asserted that the character of " Prome- 
theus " could not have been drawn, unless the author of the 
drama had been acquainted with the Sacred Writings, or with 
at least many of the prophetic books, of which it exhibits the 
most decisive evidence in several of its passages. It is probable 
that the Sacred Writings were partly made known to him by 
h^s tutor, and contemporary, Pythagoras. Similarity of de- 
sciiption only, with identity of expression, would demonstrate 
this point ; these, it is true, might be mere coincidences ; but 
whei3 the same personifications are used, we may justly con- 
clude, that the resemblance is not accidental. In Jeremiah 
xlvii. 6, we meet with this bold personification — " O thou sword 
of the Lord, how long will it be ere thou be quiet ] put up thy- 
self into thy scabbard, rest, and be still. How can it be quiet, 
seeing the Lord hath given it a charge against Ashkelon V 
The same metaphor is adopted by iEschylus. Also, " Thus 
saith the Lord God, I will spread my net over him, and he shall 
be taken in my snare," and the same expression is employed in 
other portions of Scripture to describe a state of inextricable 
difficulty, of distress, or ruin. The same metaphor is applied 
by iEschylus to describe the destruction of Troy. The trage- 
dian who followed iEschylus, although perhaps inferior to him 
in sublimity, maintained an exalted nobleness of moral senti- 
ment. A higher tone seems to have been given to the public 
mind in Greece, which cannot entirely be attributed to their po- 
litical institutions, or the incessant agitation and restlessness of 
mind induced by their party dissensions. We must refer this 
intellectual elevation to a more intellectual source ; to the spirit 
of their philosophy, morality, and poetry, which was - partially 
derived from the purer fountains of the Hebrew Scriptures, 



MORAL AND CONCLUSION. 



215 



and the peculiar object of Providence, in thus communicating 
to the Greeks, through the dispersion and captivity of the Jews, 
some knowledge of a purer creed was shown in subsequent 
ages, when that language was selected to impart the knowledge 
of the Scriptures to the world. The universality of the Greek 
language may be attributed to the general interest excited by 
the Greek Drama, the splendid composition of the poets, and 
the more exalted speculations of their philosophers. The pagan 
nations did not, it is true, eat of the fruit of the tree of life, yet 
they were blessed with some few of its leaves, and the very 
" leaves of that tree which are for the healing of the nations." 

Bishop Watson finely and strikingly remarks : " To read the 
prophecies of Daniel with attention, intelligence and an un- 
biassed mind, is sufficient to convert an unbeliever from Deism 
to Christianity." They were declared several hundred years be- 
fore the birth of Christ ; they extend through many ages ; and 
have ever been considered as the foundation of all modern his- 
tory ; revealing the successive rise and fall of the four great 
monarchies of the world ; the establishment of the Messiah's 
kingdom upon earth; his death and sufferings; and passing 
from earth to heaven, they terminate only in eternity. 

The psalms present every possible variety of Hebrew poetry. 
They may all, indeed, be termed poems of the lyric kind, that 
is, adapted to music, but with great variety in the style of com- 
position. Thus some are simply odes, giving a narrative of 
facts, either of public history or private life, in beautiful and 
figurative language. Others, again, are ethic or didactic, " de- 
livering great maxims of life, or the precepts of religion, in 
solemn, but for the most part, simple strains. To this class we 
may refer the hundred and nineteenth, and other alphabetical 
psalms, which are so called, because the initial letters of each 
line or stanza follow the order of the alphabet. Nearly one- 
seventh part of the psalms are elegiac or pathetic compositions 
on mournful subjects. Some are enigmatic, delivering the doc- 
trines of religion in enigmatic sentences contrived to strike the 



216 



MORAL AND CONCLUSION. 



imagination forcibly, and yet easy to be understood ; while a 
few may be referred to the class of idyls or short pastoral poems. 
But the greatest part, according to Bishop Horsley, is a sort of 
dramatic ode, consisting of dialogues between * certain persons 
sustaining certain characters. In these dialogue psalms, the 
persons are frequently the Psalmist himself, or the chorus of 
priests and Levites, or the leaders of the Levitical band, open- 
ing the ode with a poem declarative of the subject, and very 
often closing the whole with a solemn admonition drawn from 
what the other persons say. The other persons are, Jehovah, 
sometimes as one, sometimes as another of the three persons ; 
Christ in his incarnate state, sometimes before, sometimes after 
his resurrection ; the human soul of Christ, as distinguished 
from the divine essence. Christ, in Ins incarnate state, is person- 
ated sometimes as a priest, sometimes as a king, sometimes as 
a conqueror ; and, in those psalms in which he is introduced as 
a conqueror, the resemblance is very remarkable between this 
conqueror in the Book of Psalms, and the warrior on the white 
horse in the Book of Revelations, who goes forth with a crown 
on his head, and a bow in his hand, conquering and to conquer; 
and the conquest in the Psalms is followed, like the conquest 
in the Revelations, by the marriage of the conqueror. These 
are circumstances of similitude, which, to any one versed in the 
prophetic style, prove beyond a doubt that the mystical con- 
queror is the same personage in both. 

In praise of the Psalms, all the fathers of the church are 
unanimously eloquent. Athanasius styles them an epitome of 
the whole Scriptures ; Basil, a compendium of all theology ; 
Luther, a little Bible, and the summary of the Old Testament ; 
and Melancthon, the most elegant writing in the whole world. 
How highly the Psalter was valued subsequent to the Refor- 
mation, we may easily conceive by the very numerous editions 
of it which were executed in the infancy of printing, and by the 
number of commentators who have undertaken to illustrate its 
sacred pages. Carpzor, who wrote a century ago, enumerates 



MORAL AND CONCLUSION. 217 

upwards of one hundred and sixty ; and, of the subsequent 
modern expositors of this book, it would perhaps be difficult to 
procure a correct account. " The Psalms," as Bishop Home, 
their best interpreter in our language, has remarked with equal 
piety and beauty, " are an epitome of the Bible, adapted to the 
purposes of devotion. They treat occasionally of the creation 
and formation of the world ; the dispensations of providence, 
and the economy of grace ; the transactions ©f the patriarchs ; 
the exodus of the children of Israel ; their journey through the 
wilderness and settlement in Canaan ; their law, priesthood, 
and ritual ; the exploits of these great men, wrought through 
faith ; their sins and captivities ; their repentances and restora- 
tions ; the sufferings and victories of David ; the peaceful and 
happy reign of Solomon ; the advent of the Messiah, with its 
effects and consequences, his incarnation, birth, life, passion, 
death, resurrection, ascension, kingdom, and priesthood ; the 
effusion of the Spirit ; the conversion of the nations ; the rejec- 
tion of the Jews ; the establishment, increase, and perpetuity 
of the Christian church ; the end of the world ; the general 
judgment ; the condemnation of the wicked, and the final tri- 
umph of the righteous with their Lord and King. These are the 
subjects here presented to our meditation. We are instructed 
how to conceive of them aright, and to express the different af- 
fections, which, when so conceived of, they must excite in our 
minds. They are for this purpose adorned with figures, and set 
off with all the graces of poetry ; and poetry itself is designed 
yet further to be recommended by the charms of music, thus 
consecrated to the service of God; that so delight may prepare 
the way for improvement, and pleasure become the handmaid 
of wisdom, while every turbulent passion is calmed by sacred 
melody, and the evil spirit is still dispossessed by the harp of 
the son of Jesse. This little volume, like the paradise of Eden, 
affords us in perfection, though in miniature, everything that 
groweth elsewhere, " every tree that is pleasant to the sight, 
and good for food," and, above all, what was there lost, but is 
10* 



218 



MOEAL JlND CONCLUSION. 



here restored— the tree of life in the midst of the garden. That 
which we read as matter of speculation, in the other Scrip- 
tures, is reduced to practice when we recite it in the Psalms ; 
in these, repentance and faith are described ; but in those they 
are acted ; by a perusal of the former, we learn how others 
served God, but, by using the latter, we serve him ourselves. 
" What is there necessary for a man to know," says the pious 
and judicious Hooker, " which the Psalms are not able to teach ] 
They are to beginners an easy and familiar introduction, a 
mighty augmentation of all virtue and knowledge in such as are 
entered before, a strong confirmation to the most perfect among 
others. Heroical magnanimity, exquisite justice, grave modera- 
tion, exact wisdom, repentance unfeigned, unwearied patience, 
the mysteries of God, the sufferings of Christ, the terrors of 
wrath, the comforts of grace, the works of Providence over this 
world, and the promised joys of that world which is to come, 
all good necessarily to be either known, or done, or had, this 
one celestial fountain yieldeth. Let there be any grief or dis- 
ease incident unto the soul of man, any wound or sickness 
named, for which there is not, in this treasure-house, a present 
comfortable remedy at all times ready to be found." 

Many of the Psalms, which bear the royal prophet's name, 
were composed on occasions of remarkable circumstances in 
his life, his dangers, his afflictions, his deliverances. But of 
those which relate to the public history of the natural Israel, 
there are few in which the fortunes of the mystical Israel are 
not adumbrated ; and of those which allude to the life of David, 
there are none in which the son of David is not the principal 
and immediate subject. David's complaints against his ene- 
mies are Messiah's complaints, first of the unbelieving Jews, 
then of the heathen persecutors, and of the apostate faction in 
later ages. David's afflictions are Messiah's sufferings. David's 
penitential supplications are Messiah's, under the burden of the 
imputed guilt of man. David's songs of triumph and thanks- 
giving are Messiah's songs of triumph and thanksgiving, for his 



MORAL AND CONCLUSION. 



219 



victory over sin, and death, and hell. In a word, there is not a 
page of this Book of Psalms, in which the pious reader will not 
find his Savior, if he reads with a view of finding him. 

In the language of this divine book, therefore, the prayers 
and praises of the church have been offered up to the throne of 
grace, from age to age, and it appears to have been the manual 
of the Son of God in the days of his flesh ; who, at the conclu- 
sion of his last supper, is generally supposed, and that upon 
good grounds, to have sung a hymn taken from it ; who pro- 
nounced on the cross, the beginning of the twenty-second Psalm, 
" My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ? and expired 
with a part of the thirty-first Psalm in his mouth : " Into thy 
hands I commit my spirit." Thus He, who had not the spirit 
by measure, in whom were hidden all the treasures of wisdom 
and knowledge, and who spake as never man spake, yet chose 
to conclude his life, to solace himself in the greatest agony, and 
at last to breathe out his soul, in the Psalmist's form of words, 
rather than his own. " No tongue of man or angel," as Dr, 
Hammond justly observes, " can convey a higher idea of any 
book, and of their felicity who use it aright." 

The Psalms have been thus classified according to their seve- 
ral subjects, as adapted to the purpose of private devotion un- 
der the following divisions: 1st. Prayers, for pardon of sin, — 
when deprived of the opportunity of the public exercise of reli- 
gion — when deprived of consolation under the pressure and de- 
spondency of external afflictions and internal grief — supplications 
for divine assistance under conscious integrity of heart, and the 
justice of the suppliant's cause—expression of confidence and 
trust in God under trials — prayers of intercession on behalf of 
the people of God — with others suited to their experience un- 
der every variety of trouble and distress. 2d. Psalms of 
thanksgiving for mercies vouchsafed to particular persons and 
the Israelites in general. 3d. Psalms of praise and adoration 
displaying the attributes of God, including the acknowledgment 
of his goodness, mercy, care, and protection of good men, with 



220 



MORAL AND CONCLUSION. 



reference to the power, majesty, and glory of God. 4th. In- 
structive Psalms, describing the happiness of good, and the mis- 
ery of bad men. 5th. Psalms especially prophetical. 6th. 
Historical Psalms. 

The Bible, then, as the bulwark of civil and religious 
freedom — as the Magna Charta of divine principles and pri- 
vileges, guaranteeing the reversion of our immortal hopes 
and title to the inheritance " incorruptible, undefiled, and 
that fadeth not away — as the water of life distilled through 
the crystal conduits of revelation, each and all claim from 
our reason a reverential and grateful reception of Holy 
Writ, as the only admitted standard of faith and practice.* 

What infatuation ! what impiety ! to renounce this sacred 
Book ; which, after the similitude of a celestial lighthouse, 
a gracious Jehovah has established on the Rock of Ages, 
and in the manifold wisdom and grace of God, placed 
along the shining banks of immortality, whose reflect- 
ed beams, espied by the telescope of faith, will safely 
pilot the frail bark of mortality, tempest-tossed upon the 
crested billows of adversity, and amidst the dangerous and 
deceitful shoals of temptation as it nears the haven of eter- 
nal rest, and enters the harbor of the delectable city of the 
heavenly Jerusalem ! 

Another corollary which we would deduce from the con- 

* With such purposes and such feelings have I perused the books of the 
Old and New Testaments — each book as a whole, and also as an integral 
part. And need I say that I have met everywhere more or less copious 
sources of truth and power and purifying influences • that I have found words 
for my inmost thoughts, songs for my joy, utterances for my hidden griefs, 
and pleadings for my shame and feebleness ? In short, whatever finds me, 
bears witness for itself, that it has proceeded from a Holy Spirit, even from 
the same Spirit, which remaining in itself yet regenerateth all other powers, 
and in all ages entering into holy souls, maketh them friends of God and pro- 
phets Wisd. vii. — Coleridge, Con. Inq. Spirit. 



MORAL AND CONCLUSION. 



221 



sideration of our delightful and important subject is the 
wonderful dignity and destiny of man. 

If our good-hearted philosopher, in his Hydriotaphia, 
could speak of man amidst corruption and decay, as " splen- 
did in ruins, and pompous in the grave/' how much more en- 
nobling a view is the Christian permitted to take of him, in 
connection with the declarations revealed and contained in 
the volume of Inspiration, — as the candidate for immor- 
tality — the heir of salvation — the child of the resurrection, 
and the adopted son of God, destined to be made equal to 
the angels, — those glorious beings who have never fallen 
from the high and original righteousness of that radiant 
condition in which they were created. 

In the aphoristic expostulation of the royal Preacher — 
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter : With 
what adoring gratitude and reverential humility does it be- 
hoove us to receive the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. 
But for the mediation, the atonement, and the intercession 
of Christ, seated on the right hand of the Majesty on High, 
we should have been hopelessly deprived of all those pre- 
sent benefits and prospective privileges for our bodies and 
souls,* in time and eternity, which flow directly from the 
passion of His agony, the merits and ransom of His death, 
when He offered himself up as a sacrifice to satisfy Divine 
justice ! But for the atonement of Christ, angels would 
have never ministered to us amidst our necessities and dis- 
tresses — would never have attended us through the dark 
valley of the shadow of death,- — and then on the downy cha- 

* The visible world, so magnificent and so beautiful, is a temple worthy 
of God, the Creator: the spiritual world described in the pages of the Scrip- 
tures is a temple equally worthy of God, the Redeemer. Both equally de- 
monstrate the mercy and love of the same all- wise Providence to the bodies 
and the souls of men. — Dr. Townse^d, Introduction to the Old and New 
Testament. 



222 



MOEAL AOT) CONCLUSION. 



riots of their soft and silvery pinions escort us into the pre- 
sence of their God and our God, their Savior and our Sa- 
vior ! 

In this my present unpretending attempt, I now bid ye, 
blessed angels, a courteous but reluctant and too abrupt a 
farewell ; receiving, as the mantle of your departure, this 
gracious exhortation — this animating benediction, for my 
candid readers ; happy, thrice happy they, who, in setting 
out on the uncertain voyage and agitated sea of this mortal 
life, having weighed the anchor of a Christian hope, have 
decided to take for their polar light, the guiding star of 
Bethlehem ;* for their compass , the magnetic attractions of 
the cross ; for their chart the discoveries of a divine revela- 
tion ; with their canvass spread, for the propitious gales of 
spiritual influences to waft and speed them heavenward, in 
their perilous course ; wisely turning a deaf ear to the sy- 
ren songs of temptation, and avoiding the more fatal under- 

# Once on the raging seas I rode ; 

The storm was loud, the night was dark ; 
The ocean yawn'd, and rudely blow'd 
The wind, that toss'd my found' ring bark. 

Deep horror, then, my vitals froze ; 

Death-struck, I ceas'd the tide to stem ; 
When suddenly a star arose — 

"It was the star of Bethlehem. 

It was my guide, my life, my all, 

It bade my dark forebodings cease ; 
And through the storm, and danger's thrall, 

It led me to the port of peace. 

Now safely moor'd, irry perils o'er, 

I'll sing first in night's diadem, 
For ever, and for evermore — 

The -star ! — the star of Bethlehem. 

Henry Kirke White 



MORAL AND CONCLUSION. 



223 



currents and vortices of carnal lusts, shall escape making 
" shipwreck of faith and a good conscience 5 ' upon the dan- 
gerous rocks and deceitful shoals of fatal pleasures ; — and 
after having, by prayerful vigilance, resolutely encountered 
every hurricane of woe, and bravely outrode every tempest 
of tribulation, shall be safely launched on the unruffled 
ocean of a glorious eternity, over whose boundless surface 
no storms will ever arise, and the duration of whose un- 
alloyed felicity shall be commensurate with the illimitable 
expanse of its shoreless extent, and the seraphic fervor of 
whose adoration will correspond with the crystal holiness of 
the transparent waters of its unfathomable depth ! 

BIBLICAL AND CURIOUS. 

In the last century, all the manuscripts that could be obtained 
of the Bible were collated with the greatest care, and collec- 
tions of the various readings have been published to the world. 
But amongst all the various readings, both of the Old and New 
Testaments, none have been found to affect any point of doc- 
trine or moral practice ; so that the sacred volume has been 
handed down to our time, in such a state, as to demand from 
all its friends a grateful acknowledgment of the divine provi- 
dence in its preservation. 

There are not wanting proofs of the most scrupulous care of 
the Hebrew text on the part of the Jews : they have counted 
large and small sections, the verses, the words, and even the 
letters, in some of the books. Father Simon says he had seen 
a manuscript of Perpignan, which contained the following com- 
putation : 





Great 


Small 










sections. 


sections. 


Verses. 


Words. 


Letters. 


Genesis, 


12 


43 


1,534 


20,713 


78,100 


Exodus, 


11 


33 


1,209 




63,467 


Leviticus, 


10 


25 


859 


11,902 


44,989 


Numbers, 


10 


33 


1,288 


16,707 


62,529 


Deuteronomy, 11 


31 


955 


16,304 


54,892 



224 



MOEAL AND CONCLUSION. 



They have likewise reckoned which is the middle letter of the 
Pentateuch, which is the middle clause of each book, and how 
many times each letter of the alphabet occurs in all the Hebrew 
Scriptures. 



Aleph, . 


42,377 


Lamed, . 


41,517 


Beth, 


38,218 


Mem, 


77,778 


Gimel, 


29,537 


Nun, 


41,696 


Daleth, . 


32,530 


Samech, . 


13,6S0 


He, 


47,554 


Ain, 


20,175 


Vau, 


76,922 


Pe, 


22,725 


Zain, 


, 22,867 


Tzaddi, . 


21,882 


Cheth, . 


23,447 


Koph, 


22,972 


Teth, 


11,052 


Resh, 


22,147 


Jod, 


66,420 


Shin, 


32,148 


Caph, 


48,253 


Tau, 


59,343 



The most notable editions of the Bible are those which have 
been issued under the titles of the Wickliffe, about the year 1370, 
Tiaclal and Coverdale's, about 1527 and 1535 ; Matthew 's, about 
1537 ; Cranmer's, 1539 ; The Bishop's, 1569, and King James's, 
prepared by a conclave of the most able scholars and eminent di- 
vines in Hampton Court, in the year 1603, which is the present 
authorized version, and though upwards of two centuries have 
elapsed since it first appeared, and during this interval, notwith- 
standing many passages in particular books have been variously 
elucidated by learned men, with equal felicity and ability, per- 
spicuity and excellence, their united labors have contributed to 
give the present translation a high and distinguished place in 
the judgment of the Christian world, wherever the English lan- 
guage is spoken and studied. 

The middle chapter, and the shortest in the Bible, is the 
117th Psalm ; the middle' verse is the Sth of the 118th Psalm ; 
the 21st verse of the 7th chapter of Ezra, in the English version, 
contains all the letters of the alphabet ; the 19th chapter of the 
2d Kings, and the 37th chapter of Isaiah are alike. 



MOEAL AND CONCLUSION. 



225 



The Old Testament comprises 39 books, 929 chapters, 
23,214 verses, 592,493 words, 2,728,100 letters. The New 
Testament 27 books, 260 chapters, 181,253 verses, 838,380 let- 
ters, making a total of 

Books, , . 66 Verses, . . 31,173 
Chapters, . . 1,189 Words, . . 773,746 
Letters, . . 3,566,480. 

Independently of all considerations of its religious advantages, 
no book has conduced more than the Bible to the high cul- 
tivation and moral advancement of the human mind. The 
labor bestowed by so many of the learned, upon the just in- 
terpretation of this inestimable book, is of itself an attesta- 
tion of its worth, and countenances the supposition, that Di- 
vine Providence has appointed it for the attainment of great 
designs. 

The Bible, to B^/Uov, is the name applied by way of emi- 
nence to the collection of sacred writings, otherwise called in 
Holy Scripture the Old and New Testament. " This volume 
to w^hich both Jews and Christians respectively appeal; the 
former, to the Old Testament Scripture exclusively ; the latter, 
to the Old and New Testament combined, which is emphatically 
termed the Bible. It comprises a great number of narratives 
and compositions written by inspired persons, at distant periods, 
in different languages, and on various subjects. Collectively, 
they claim to be a Divine Revelation, that is, a discovery af- 
forded by God to man of Himself, or of his will beyond what 
He has vouchsafed to make known by the light of nature or 
reason." 

Bishop Home forcibly and beautifully remarks : " The Scrip- 
tures are the appointed means of enlightening the mind with true 
and saving knowledge. They show us what we were, what we 
are, and what we shall be. They show us what God has done 
for us, and what He expects us to do for him. They show us 
the adversaries we have to encounter, and how to encounter * 



226 MORAL AND CONCLUSION. 

them with success. They show us the mercy and justice of 
God, the joys of Heaven, and the pains of Hell. Thus will 
they give to the simple an understanding of such matters as 
philosophy, for whole centuries, taught in vain." 




COLLECTANEA: 

OR, 

A PARTERRE 

OF 

SENTIMENTS, 
SIMILITUDES, 
SPIRITUALITIES, 
SPECULATIONS, 
SINGULARITIES, &c. 



SPARSOS COLLIG-ERE FLORES ET FRONDES, 



COLLECTANEA, 



Abraham's "Wife ; tradition respecting her heauty. 

The rabbies have invented the following singular account of Abra- 
ham's conveyance of Sarah into Egypt. " He put her into a chest, 
and locked the cover of the same upon her face, jealous of her beauty 
being noticed. When he was come to the toll or custom-house, they 
said, 1 Pay us custom, : and he said, c I will pay the custom/ They said to 
him, 'Thou carriest clothes'' and he said, 'I will pay for the clothes.' 
They said to him, 1 Thou carriest gold y and he answered them, ' I 
will pay for my gold.' They said to him further, ' Thou carriest the 
finest silk:' then he said to them, ( I will pay for the finest silk.' 
Farther, they said to him, ' Thou carriest pearls ;' and he said to 
them, 'I will pay for the pearls,' and he was willing to pay custom 
as if he had carried such valuable things. But they said unto him, 
' It cannot be, but thou must open, and show us what is within. 1 
And when he had opened the chest, the whole land of Egypt was 
brightly illumined by the lustre of Sarah," — Allen. 



Adam's designation of the Animals in Paradise alle- 
gorized. 

The beasts of the field which God brought to Adam, in order that 
he might give them names, are the unreasonable motions of the flesh. 
Fowls of the air, are idle thoughts, and empty speculations. The 
garden of Eden the spiritual purity of the mind and the region of 
heavenly truth into which Paul was wrapt. — Hetwood, 

There is a tradition that our first parents were forty days in Para- 
dise. 



Christ, his nativity r , intercession, gracious and mirac- 
ulous operations spiritualized ; — Nature* s recogn i- 
tion of her Deity ; — -and parallelisms illustrating the 
Mosaic and Christian dispensations. 

"[Inexpressible is the Sacrament of the nativity of our Lord the 
God of life, which we ought rather to believe than examine. A 
virgin conceived and brought forth, which nature aflbrdeth not; 
use knew not ; reason was ignorant of ; understanding conceived 
not. This, at which heaven wondered; earth admired : the creature, 
was stupefied, what human language is able to deliver! There- 



230 



COLLECTANEA. 



fore, the Evangelist, as he opened the conception and birth in a 
human phrase, so he shut it up in a divine secret. And, this he did 
to show, that it is not lawful for a man to dispute that which he is 
commanded to believe. And, again, how can there be the least 
damage unto modesty when there is interested a Deity 1 when an 
angel is the messenger ; faith, the bridesmaid : chastity, the contract ; 
virtue, the espouser; conscience, the priest; God, the cause; integ- 
rity, the conception ; virginity, the birth ; a maid, the mother % Let 
no man, therefore, judge that thing after the manner of man which 
is done by a divine sacrament ; let no man examine a celestial mys- 
tery by earthly reason, or a secret novelty, by that which is frequent 
and common. Let no man measure that which is singular, by ex- 
ample ; nor derive contumely from piety ; nor run into danger by 
his rashness, when God has promised salvation by his goodness. 
What was the necessity that Mary the blessed virgin should be 
espoused unto ! seph ? but, either because that mystery should be 
concealed from the devil ; and so the false accuser should find no 
cavil against her chastity, being affianced unto an husband ; or else that 
after the infant was born, he should be the mother's conductor into 
Egypt and back again. For Mary was the untouched, the unblem- 
ished, the immaculate mother of the only begotten Son of God ; — the 
almighty Father and Creator of all things, — of that Son who, in hea- 
ven, was without a mother ; — on earth, without a father ; — in heaven, 
(according to his Deity.) in the bosom of his Father ; on earth, (ac- 
cording to his humanity,) in the lap of his mother. — Heywood. 



Father, forgive them, for they Jcnow not what they do ! 

Philosophy, therefore, if it required a lesson in humanity, may 
come to school here. The feeling which prompted these words 
touched the highest culminating point of human nature, where 
divinity itself begins. — Sir Thomas Browse. 

The fountain with which Paradise was watered is Christ : of the 
four rivers into which it is often parted, Pison is prudence : Gihon, 
temperance; Tigris (Hiddekel), fortitude; Euphrates, justice. 

That of three things the world has great cause to wonder — of 
Christ's resurrection after death, — of his ascension to heaven in the 
flesh, — and that by his Apostles, being no better than fishermen, the 
whole world should be converted. There be four miraculous imita- 
tors made by Christ— a fisherman, to be first shepherd of his flock — 
a persecutor, to be first master and teacher of the Gentiles — a publi- 
can, to be the first evangelist — a thief, that first entered heaven. 

Would we be acquainted with the mysteries of the kingdom of 
heaven, we must make application not to angels, for they are them- 
selves learners, but to Christ himself. — Ambrose. 

As in the earthly Paradise there were four rivers which watered 
the whole earth ; so in Christ, who is our Paradise, we may find four 
fountains ; the first is the fountain of mercy, to wash away our sins 
by the waters of remission ; the second is the fountain of wisdom, to 
quench our thirst with the waters of discretion ; the third is the 



COLLECTANEA. 



231 



fountain of grace, to water the plants of good works with the springs 
of devotion; and the fourth is the crystal fountain of everlasting 
life whose refreshing waters issue from the mount of the heavenly 
Zion. 

The heavens knew him, which lent him a bright star to light him 
into the world. The sea knew him, which against its own nature, 
made itself passable for his feet. The earth knew him, which shook 
and trembled at his passion. The sun knew him, which hid its 
face, and withdrew his beams from beholding so execrable an object 
as the crucifixion. The stones and buildings knew him, which split 
and rent themselves asunder. The grave and hell knew him, the one, 
by yielding up the dead ; the other, by witnessing his descension. 

The Jews reckoned up five several marks of divine favor which 
distinguished the first temple, and were wanting in the second. 
The ark of the covenant and the mercy seat which was upon it ; the 
Shechinah or the divine presence; the Urim and.Hhummim; the 
holy fire upon the altar ; and the spirit of prophecy. Now the ab- 
sence of those several things was abundantly supplied by the pre- 
sence of that Divine Person of whom each of them was in some mea- 
sure typical. Christ may be called the ark, as he was the material 
representative of the Deity, in whom was deposited the perfect law 
of God. Like the cedar of which the ark was composed, Christ was 
incorruptible ; and the golden crown of divinity and glory was upon 
him, as it was upon the ark. Angels attended him in his humilia- 
tion, and desired to penetrate the mystery of his incarnation, as the 
cherubim bent over the mercy seat • so is Christ the meeting place 
between God and man. Christ was the Shechinah, for he dwelt in 
the tabernacle among men, the true glory of the Shechinah. The 
Urim and Thummim were not required when the Messiah was on 
the earth. He only has given those clear oracular answers, which 
shall ever instruct the world : the others were but typical of that 
union of light and perfection which met in Him alone. Never but 
in him were united perfect knowledge and perfect holiness. He is 
the Great High Priest, who has spoken with the mouth of God. The 
holy fire was not necessary, it was but typical of that eternal flame 
of devotion, and purity, and love, which God requires, and Christ 
exemplified. The spirit of prophecy was not wanted, for on him 
rested the spirit without measure. He was the prophet like unto 
Moses, in bringing in a new dispensation : though greater than Moses, 
for he was perfect in himself, and grace and truth are better than 
the law. Christ united in himself all these ornaments of the first 
temple, and He excelled them all, inasmuch as the substance is supe- 
rior to the shadow. These things, it is true, made the first temple 
glorious; but the glory of the second temple was indeed greater than 
that of the first ; when Christ uniting all the realities of which the 
first temple were but typical, presented himself in the second temple, 
to the admiring and wondering crowd as the true Messiah, the ex- 
pected Hope and Savior of Israel. 

Socinius and his followers believed in the actual translation of 
Jesus to some celestial region in the interval between his baptism 
and his entrance upon his public ministry. 



232 



COLLECTANEA. 



Creation; allegorized. 

" That God has taught us by the course he took in framing and 
fashioning the world, how we must proceed to become a new crea- 
tion or a new heaven and a new earth, renewed both in soul and 
body. In the first day, he made the light ; therefore the first thing 
of the new man ought to be the light of knowledge, for saith St. Paul, 
4 he that cometh to God must know that he is.' On the second day, 
he made the firmament, so called because of its steadfastness ; so the 
second step in man's new creation must be firmamentum fidei — the 
sure foundation of faith. On the third day, the seas and trees bear- 
ing fruits ; so the third step in the new man is, that he become 
waters of relenting tears, and that he bring forth fruit worthy of 
repentance. On the fourth day, God created the sun, that whereas 
on the first day there was light without heat, now on the fourth day 
there is light and heat joined together ; so the fourth step in the 
new creation of the new man is, that he join the heat of zeal with 
the light of knowledge ; as in the sacrifices, fire and salt were coupled. 
The fifth day's work was of fishes to play in the seas, and fowls to 
fly and soar towards heaven ; so the fifth step, in a new creature, is 
to live and rejoice in a sea of troubles, and fly by prayer and con- 
templation heavenward. On the sixth day, God made man ; now all 
those things before named being performed by Him, man, is a new 
creature. They are all thus like a golden chain concatenated into 
several links by Saint Peter." Add to your light of knowledge, the 
firmament of faith ; to your faith, seas of repentant tears ; to your 
tears, the fruitful trees of good works ; to your good works, the hot 
sunshine of zeal ; to your zeal, the winged fowls of prayer and con- 
templation ; and so Ecce omnia facta sunt. Behold all things are 
made new ! — Heywood. 



Decalogue ; fetched from heaven by Moses, and the oppo- 
sition he encountered from angelic interference. 

Moses is represented by the Cabalists as having received the law, 
not as is commonly believed by Christians, by the condescension of the 
divine Majesty, on Mount Sinai; but by actually ascending into 
heaven to fetch it. And ample details have been given of the oppo- 
sition he experienced from numerous and mighty angels, and the 
means by which he overcame that opposition and surmounted other 
difficulties and obstacles in his progress through the celestial regions. 



Deity ; hieroglyphically represented. 

Divers nations, but especially the Egyptians, made certain hiero- 
glyphics to express the sole supremacy of the Deity. First, by the 
stork, which is a bird that hath no tongue ; and God created all things 
in a temperate and quiet silence : inferring from this that man ought 
not to speak of him too freely or rashly, nor to search too narrowly 
into his hidden attributes. They interpreted His infinity by a circle, 
which hath neither beginning nor an end. So likewise by the eye ; for 



COLLECTANEA. 



233 



as in all other creatures, so especially in man the eye is of his other 
members, the most beautiful and excellent, as the moderator and 
guide of our affections and actions ; so God is the bright eye of the 
world who by the apostle James is called the Father of men, unto 
whose eyes all thoughts be naked and open, who looketh upon the 
good and bad, and searches into the reins of either. — Heywood. 



Deyil ; the method and ceremony of the homage per- 
formed*, and the fealty paid to him, according to the 
ritual of witchcraft. 

First, the magician or witch is brought before the tribunal of 
Satan, either by a familiar spirit or else by a magi or hag of the same 
profession, who sits crowned upon a majestic throne, surrounded by 
a host of other devils, who attend upon him in the capacity and dig- 
nity of lords, barons, and princes, richly appareled in the vestments 
of -Tartarean paraphernalia. The palace or parliament-house of his 
satanic majesty is represented as built of beautiful marble, and the 
walls of which are hung with gorgeous drapery interwoven with 
gold and silver and purple covered arras, and designed to augment 
the pomp of his regality and imperial state. Satan, from his royal 
seat, casts his eyes round about, as if ready to incline his benign ear, 
by way of encouragement, to any suitor that may be presented. A 
devil, of venerable aspect, now steps forth and saith, ;£ Most jDotent 
lord and master, great patron of the spacious universe, in whose 
hands are all the riches and treasures of the earth, and all the goods 
and gifts of the world, this person [ present before thine imperial 
throne, to follow thy standard, and to fight under the patronage of 
thy great name and power ; who is ready to acknowledge thee to be 
god and creator of ail things, and none but thee. It shall be thy 
clemency, 0 most sovereign lord, to vouchsafe this man (or woman) 
the grace of thy benign aspect and receive him (or her) unto thy 
patronage and favor." To which Satan, with a grave countenance 
and loud oration answer eth, 44 1 cannot but commend this thy friend, 
who so cordially hath committed himself (or herself) unto our safe 
guard and trust ; whom as our client and favorite we accept, and 
promise to supply him with all felicity and pleasure, both in this 
present life and the future." This done, the miserable wretch is com- 
manded to renounce his faith, baptism, the eucharist, and all other 
holy things, and to confess Lucifer his only lord and governor : which 
is done with many infernal and execrable ceremonies not befitting to 
be here mentioned. Then is the certificate of initiation and recep- 
tion written with the blood of the left thumb. After which the devil 
marks him either in the brow, neck or shoulders, but commonly in 
the more secret parts, with the stamp or character of the foot of a 
hare, a black dog, or a toad, or some such figure by which he brands 
him (as the custom was of old, to stamp their slaves and captives 
whom they bought for money in the market-places) to become his 
perpetual slave and vassal ; and this the wicked spirit doeth, as de- 
sirous to imitate God in all things ; who in the Old Testament marked 
11 



234 



COLLECTAKEA. 



his chosen people with the seal of circumcision, to distinguish them 
from the gentiles, and in the New Testament, with the sign of the 
cross, which succeeded that of circumcision (according to the testi- 
mony of the fathers). And as the devil is always adverse to his 
creator, so he will be worshipped with contrary rites and ceremonies. 
Therefore, whenever magicians, and witches, present themselves unto 
him, they worship him with their faces from, and their backs towards 
him, and sometimes standing upon their heads with their heels up- 
wards, but what is most beastly and abominable of all the requisi- 
tion of their homage and fealty, the devil presents unto them his 
forked tail to kiss : which divers magicians have confessed. Those 
who put themselves under any certain constellation by which to pro- 
duce curious and prodigious effects, whereby the work is taken from 
the creator and attributed unto the creature ; and all those operations 
of conjuration, incantation, abjuration, murmuration, together with 
those conventicles and nightly assemblies of sorcerers, and other dia- 
bolical inventions, have the great devil himself for their author and 
abettor. — Heywood. 

Some of the ancient writers on Sorcery, have affirmed that every 
magician and witch after they have passed through the ordeal of 
performing homage to the devil, immediately a familiar spirit is ap- 
pointed to attend them, and whom they styled Magister, Martinellus, 
and that he is sometimes visible with them, in the shape of a dog, a 
rat, an Ethiope, &c. That Simon Magus had a black dog tied to 
him with a chain, which, if any man attempted to speak to him, 
with whom he did not desire any communication, he instantly sprang 
at him, and the offender was soon devoured. 

The knowledge of devils makes them familiar with the virtues of 
herbs, plants, stones, minerals, &c. They understand the nature of 
all creatures, birds, and beasts. They possess excellent skill in all 
the arts and sciences. By their influence they operate on the four 
elements, stars and planets; are acquainted with the cause of meteors, 
and can produce miraculous alterations and wonderful effects in the 
air. — Burton, Anatomy. 

The ancient, as well as the more recent sophists, enumerate the 
following kinds of devils, their particular orders, and point out their 
respective presidencies — Fiery spirits or devils, have control over 
blazing stars, fire drakes, ignes fqtui, &c. The aerial, keep their 
quarters in the air, and control tempests, thunder, lightnings, &c. 
The water-devils, preside over naiads or water-nymphs, oceans, rivers, 
&c. The terrestrial, supervise lares, genii, wood-nymphs, fairies, 
robin-good-fellows, forests, &c. The subterranean, are commonly seen 
about mines, produce earthquakes, are conversant with the centre of 
the earth and volcanoes, and torture the souls of men till the day of 
judgment. Their egress and regress are about iEtna, Lipari, Mods 
Hecla in Iceland, Vesuvius, Terra del Fuego, &c, because many 
shrieks and fearful cries are continually heard thereabouts, and fa- 
miliar apparitions of dead men, ghosts, goblins. &c. — Burton, Passim. 



COLLECTANEA. 



235 



Fanaticism ; its natural cliaracter and practical effects. 

The fanatic will live on better terms with angels and with seraphs, 
than with his children, servants or neighbors, or he is one who, 
while he reverences the thrones, dominions, and powers of the invis- 
ible world, vents his spleen in railing against all "dignities and 
powers of the earth." — Isaac Taylor. 



Firmament ; morally considered. 

If, with Seneca, we contemplate aright in imagination the magni- 
tude and beauty of the orbs of heaven, we shall look down, with a 
noble indifference, on the earth as a scarcely distinguishable atom, 
and say, " Is it to this little spot that the great designs and most 
glorious desires of man are confined ? Is it for this, that there is 
such disturbance of nature, so much carnage, and so many ruinous 
wars ? 0 ! folly of deceived men, to imagine great kingdoms in the 
compass of an atom, to raise armies to divide a point of earth with 
their swords ! It is just as if the ants should divide their mole hills 
into provinces, and conceive a field to be several kingdoms, and 
fiercely contend to enlarge their borders and celebrate a triumph in 
gaining a foot of earth, or a new province to their empire. In the 
light of heaven, all sublunary glories fade away, and the mind is 
refined and ennobled, when with the eye of faith, it penetrates within 
the veil and descries the splendor of the heaven of heavens. 

Future State ; its necessity, reality equality ^ promise, 
and moral -influence. 

It is indeed a wide ocean, said the abbe, full of waves and dan- 
gers, storms and tempests: and like the Atlantic before the adven- 
turous Genoese first crossed it, no one comes back to tell us what is 
beyond. But as to the eye of Columbus, enlightened by true genius, 
it was self-evident that to harmonize with the known world in which 
he dwelt, there must be another continent beyond the broad western 
sea; so to the eye of the religious man, enlightened by revelation, it 
is self-evident, that beyond the scenes of time, there must be another 
World to equalise all that is unequal in this. — Anonymous. 

If there be men dignified by the name of philosophers who can 
hold that the present scene of being, with all its moral evil, and phys- 
ical suffering, is to be succeeded by no better or happier state of 
existence, just because "all things have continued as they were : ' five 
or six thousand years : their inferences respecting the future state, 
would not have been less conclusive, or the revealed declaration of 
the scripture less true, had they based it on a period, even an hun- 
dred times more extended. — Hugh Miller. 

" Plato, thou reason'st well, 
Else whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire, 
This longmg after immortality ! 
Or w T hence this secret dread, and inward horror — 



236 



COLLECTANEA. 



Of falling into naught ? Why shrinks the soul 
Back on herself, and startles at destruction ? 
7 Tis the divinity that stirs within us, 
7 Tis heaven itself that points out an hereafter 
And intimates eternity to man. 7 ' — Addison. 

The doctrine of a future state is not merely a speculative proposi- 
tion to serve as a subject of metaphysical investigation or to be ad- 
mitted merely to complete a system of philosophy or theological 
belief. It is a truth of the highest practical importance which ought 
to be interwoven with the whole train of our thoughts and actions. 
Yet how many are there even of those who bear the Christian name, 
who are incessantly engaged in boisterous disputes respecting the 
nature of faith, who have never felt the influence of that faith which 
realizes to the mind, as if actually present, the glories of the invisible 
world. If we really believe the doctrine of immortality, it will man- 
ifest itself in our thoughts, affections and pursuits. It will lead us to 
form a just estimation of the value of all earthly enjoyments. For 
in the sight of eternity all secular pursuits in which men now engage 
appear but vanity, and all the dazzling objects which fascinate these 
eyes, as fleeting shadows. A realizing view of an eternal state dis- 
sipates the illusion which the eye of sense throws over the pageantry 
and splendors of this world, and teaches us that is transitory and fad- 
ing, and that our most exquisite pleasures will ere long be snatched 
from our embrace. For not a single mark of our sublunary honors, not 
a single farthing of our boasted treasures, not a single trace of the 
beauty of our persons, can be carried along with us to the regions 
beyond the grave. It will stimulate us to set our affections on things 
above, and to indulge in heavenly contemplations, for " where our 
treasure is, our hearts will be also." Rising superior to the delights 
of sense, and the boundaries of time, we will expatiate at large, on 
those boundless regions which Ci eye hath not seen," and contemplate 
in the eye of reason and revelation those scenes of felicity and grandeur 
which will burst upon the disembodied spirit when it has dropped its 
earthly tabernacle in the dust. Again, if we believe the doctrine 
of immortality, we will be careful to avoid those sins which would 
expose us to misery in the future world, and to cultivate those dispo- 
sitions and virtues which will prepare us for the enjoyment of eternal 
felicity. Between virtue and vice, sin and holiness, there is an essen- 
tial and eternal distinction, and this distinction will be fully and 
visibly displayed in the eternal world. He whose life is a continued 
scene of vicious indulgence, and who has devoted himself to " work 
all manner of un cleanness with greediness," becomes by such habits 
" a vessel of wrath fitted for destruction," and from the very consti- 
tution of things there is no possibility of his escaping the misery of 
the future state, if his existence be prolonged. Whereas, he who is 
devoted to the practice of holiness, who loves his creator with supreme 
affection and his neighbor as himself, who adds to his " faith virtue, 
knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness and charity," is 
by the possession and exemplification of such graces, rendered fit for 



COLLECTANEA. 



237 



everlasting communion with the Father of Spirits, and for delightful 
association with all holy intelligences, that people his immense em- 
pire. The belief in a future state, also, will excite us to the exercise 
of contentment and reconcile our minds to whatever privations or 
afflictions, providence may allot us in this world. "For the sufferings 
of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory 
which is to be revealed." If we believe that the whole train of cir- 
cumstances connected with our present lot is arranged by wisdom 
and benevolence, every thing that befalls us here must have a certain 
bearing on the future world, and have a tendency to prepare us for 
engaging in its exercises, and for relishing its enjoyment. We will 
not rest satisfied with vague and confused conceptions of celestial 
bliss ;. but will endeavor to form as precise and definite ideas, on this 
subject, as the position of our sublunary condition will permit. We 
will search the oracles of divine revelation and the discoveries of 
science, and endeavor to deduce from both, the sublimest conceptions 
we can form of the glories of that "inheritance which is incorrupt- 
ible, undefiled. and that fadeth not away, which is reserved in heaven 
for the faithful." 



God ; understood by the loorlts of nature and the volume 
of Inspiration. 

Saith an old divine : we come by two ways to the knowledge 
and apprehension of God, by his works and by his word : by his 
works we learn to know there is a God, and by his word we come 
to know what God is. His works teach us to spell, his word to 
read. The first are his back parts, by which we behold Him afar 
off, the latter represent Him to us more visibly, and as it were "face 
to face." For the word is a book consisting of three leaves, and 
every leaf printed with many letters, and every letter con- 
taineth in itself a lecture. The leaves are heaven, the air, and 
the earth, with the water : the letters engraved are every angel, star 
and planet ; the letters in the air, every meteor and fowl ) those in 
the earth and water, every man, beast, plant, flower, mineral, fish, 
&c. All these, set together, spell unto us — That there is a God. 

I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of 
Jacob, in a special sense, not merely as their creator and preserver, 
which he is to all men, but as their governor, protector, supplier and 
friend, — not of the dead, which are non-entities. In Scripture, that 
God is one God, and that we are his people, are correlative propo- 
sitions. 

The works of creation, and every thing around us, manifest the 
presence of God, —his radiant, life-giving circle. It is neither pan- 
theism nor poetry alone, but the truth of nature exemplified in the 
variations of the seasons. 

" These, as they change, Almighty Father, these 
Are but the varied God ; the rolling year 
Is full of thee. Forth in the pleasing spring 
Thy beauty walks, thy tenderness and love." 



238 



COLLECTANEA. 



Every germ that is evolving, every flower that blooms, presents to 
us the moving presence of God. Whenever we conceive of the ope- 
rations of the laws of nature in the world, or disconnected from the 
power of His immediate presence, at the place where such operations 
exhibit themselves, we practically deny his omnipresence. It is a 
beautiful and instructive story of the traveller, amid the emergencies 
of a journey in the destitution of a desert, attracted by a flower, 
growing upon a stone in the arid waste, exclaiming, God is here ! 
The blooming flower was the manifestation of his presence. 

u Should fate command me to the utmost verge, 
Of the great earth, to distant barbarous climes ; 
Rivers unknown to song ; where first the sun 
Gilds Indian mountains, or his setting beams 
Flame on the Atlantic Isles, 'tis naught to me, 
Since God is ever present, ever felt, 
In the void waste, as in the city full ; 
And where he vital breathes there must be joy." 



Immortality ; symbolized by the Tomb. 

It remains for death to exhibit the glory of life. It was a beautiful 
superstition, that of ever-burning lamps in tombs. To seek for such, 
imaged well the practice of the Christian, who beholds immortality 
in the grave. — Slack. 



Jacob's Ladder ; its prophetic and spiritual meaning. 

The Rabbins have a conceit respecting the ladder which Jacob be- 
held in his dream, " set upon the earth, and the top of it reaching 
to heaven, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon it," 
which they say represents the rise and fall of the four great mo- 
narchies ; the seventy steps agreeing with the seventy years captivity 
in Babylon, or two and fifty steps representing the time of the 
reign of the four Assyrian kings. 

In Jacob's ladder figur'd this w T e see, 
(Which ladder Christ himself protest to be) , 
Of which the foot being fixt upon the ground, 
The top to heaven. Thus much to us doth sound, 
That in this scale, at such large distance set, 
The heaven and earth at once together met. 
So Christ's humanity from earth was given, 
But his divinity He took from heaven ; 
As from earth, earthy ; as from heaven divine ; 
Two natures, in one person, thus combine. 

Heywood. 



COLLECTANEA. 



239 



Jews ; touching the prophecies relative to their present 
condition, and the prospective restoration to their for- 
mer possession of the divine favor, and return of their 
national glory. 

In the midst of all changes, — the vicissitudes of time. — the revo- 
lution of kingdoms, and the downfall of empires, the Jew abides the 
same in every particular, the same as when God led him out of 
Egypt, with one creed, one language, one liturgy, one sorrow, one 
hope, he is found in every corner of the globe, a severed fragment of 
that exquisite design which the Lord shall again arrange, as of old, to 
be the beauty and glory of the whole earth. — Charlotte Elizabeth. 



J oseph ; traditionary statement respectiny his burial and 
the journey ings of his coffin. 

Rabbi Nathan affirms that Joseph was buried in the mausoleum of 
a certain king of Egypt, and that Moses stood near that royal ceme- 
tery and said, Joseph, the time is arrived in which God swore that 
he would deliver Israel ; the time is come also for Israel to fulfill the 
oath which thou didst impose upon them : if thou show thyself, well ; 
but, if not, we are released from our obligation. That Joseph's coffin 
instantly advanced : and that 2\Ioses took it, and carried it off with 
him, and that during all the year that Israel passed in the wilder- 
ness, the coffin of Joseph and the ark of the Lord marched side by 
side. — Allen. 



Judgment Day ; its necessity, equity, and moral 
influence. 

m This is the day that must make good that great attribute of God, — 
his justice: that must reconcile those answerable doubts that tor- 
ment the wisest understandings and resolve those seeming inequal- 
ities, and respective distributions in this world, to an equality and 
recompensive justice in the next. This is that one day that shall 
include and comprehend all that went before it : wherein, as in the 
last scene, all the actors mast enter to complete and make up the 
catastrophe of this great piece. This is the day whose memory hath 
only power to make us honest in the dark, and to be virtuous without 
a witness. Ipsa sui pretium virtus sibi, that virtue is her own re- 
ward, is but a cold principle to maintain our variable resolutions in a 
constant and settled way of goodness.— Sir T. Browne. 



Magic ; its author and history. 
Some- authors have supposed the art of magic was devised before 
the flood, by the Devil, who communicated the invention to the giants, 
by whom Cham^ the son of Noah, was instructed in the science of 
sorcery. ^ For this abomination, with the consequences of all man- 
ner of iniquities arising therefrom, was the deluge brought upon the 



240 



COLLECTANEA. 



world, and which, after the flood, was taught by Cham to his son, 
Misraim, who conveyed it to the Egyptians, Babylonians and Per- 
sians, and from them imparted to the other nations of this terra- 
queous globe. 

Other writers on magic derive the words from Tkeurgia or white- 
magic, Goetia or black-magic, or the black-art, otherwise called 
necromancy. The effect of the first, they imputed to good angels ; 
and the evils of the latter they ascribed to demons: affirming the 
one to be lawful, and the other unlawful. 

Tertullian traces all the chief luxuries of female attire, the neck- 
laces, armlets, rouge and the black powder for the eye lashes, to the 
researches of fallen angels into the inmost recesses of nature, and 
the discoveries they were in consequence enabled to make of all that 
could embellish the beauty of their earthly favorites. 



Mesmerism ; a characteristic and medical anecdote. 

Remarks. — The daring follies and satanic delusions of the present 
day are not entitled to the merit or charm of novelty, as regards either 
their source, principles, designs, peculiarities or practices ; being in spi- 
rit — in facto — precisely the same as those which existed during the dark 
and sanguinary period when witchcraft prevailed in England. For- 
tune-telling is now exploded, and entirely confined to the simplicity 
of silly and ignorant girls ; pronounced by law a misdemeanor, and 
punishable upon the indictment of obtaining money under false pre- 
fences. 

During the reigns of the Charles's, and the interregnum of the Pro- 
tectorate, these abominations were rife. Modern Miilerism corre- 
sponds to the Millenium of the Fifth-Monarchy-Men ; whilst other 
similar vagaries, which have recently startled or seduced the imbeciles 
of the passing hour, are merely modified to meet the advanced stage 
of the scientific knowledge of a progressive civilization ; putting on 
the disguise of new names and assuming the different dress of a 
changed appearance, to distinguish them from such as originated in 
the dark, superstitious and disastrous times of English history, when 
the corrupting influence of courtly intrigues, commingled with the 
subversive errors of a headlong fanaticism, and those heretical dogmas 
which provoked the outbreak — "the confusion worse confounded" — 
of those sanguinary and sectarian conflicts which have ever attended 
the unyielding hostilities, fierce and violent struggles of religious de- 
nominations for the ascendency to supreme authority, or the tyranny 
of despotic power, so dishonoring to the benevolent character of a 
Catholic Christianity, as well as abhorrent to those essential prin- 
ciples which involve the inalienable and sacred rights of civil and 
religious liberty, whose safe and solid base alone affords a sure foun- 
dation upon which to erect the various and stately superstructures of 
social, political, and ecclesiastical institutions ; rendered most dura- 
ble and attractive when built according to the glorious order of a 
divine architecture, and adorned by the chaste ornaments of those 



COLLECTANEA. 



241 



plastic and apostolic rules, taught and perfected only in the school of 
Christ. — G. C. 

By the spirits called Lares, or household gods, many men have been 
driven into strange melancholies. Amongst others I will cite one 
least common. A young man had a strong imagination that he was 
dead, and did not only abstain from the use of meat and drink, but 
importuned his parents that he might be carried into his grave 
and buried before his flesh was quite putrefied . By the counsel of 
physicians, he was wrapped up in a winding sheet and laid 
upon a bier, and so carried toward the church upon men's shoul- 
ders*. But, by the way, two or three pleasant fellows, suborned to 
that purpose, meeting the hearse, demanded aloud of them that 
followed it, whose body it was there coffined and carried to bu- 
rial ? They said it was such a young man s, and told them his 
name. Surely (replied one of them), the world is very well rid 
of him, for he was a man of a very bad and vicious life, and his 
friends may rejoice he hath rather ended his days thus, than at the 
gallows. Which the young man hearing, and vexed to be so injured, 
roused himself up upon the bier, and told them that they were wick- 
ed men to do him that wrong, which he had never deserved, and 
told them, that if he were alive, as he was not, he would teach them 
to speak better of the dead. But they proceeding to deprave him, 
and give him much disgraceful and contemptible language, he not 
being able to endure it, leapt from the hearse and fell about their ears 
with such rage and fury that he ceased not buffeting with them till quite 
wearied, and by his violent agitation the humors of his body altered, 
he awakened as out of a sleep or trance, and being brought home 
and comforted with wholesome diet, he within a few days recovered 
both his pristine health, strength and understanding.* 

" Time is, that I, being a young man, writ of Magical Art three 
books in one volume, sufficiently large, which I entitled of Hidden 
Philosophy ; in which wheresoever I have erred through the vain 
curiosity of youth, now in my better and more ripe understanding I 
recant in this palinode. I confess I have spent much time in these 
vanities, in which I have only profited thus much, that I am able to 

=* The foregoing incident is extracted from a work containing upward of 
seven hundred folio pages of doggerel verse and laborious prose, preceded by 
a dedication to Henrietta Maria Queen, which breathes the gallantry and 
quintessence of chivalrie courtesy ; but considering it a literary curiosity I 
was enticed to proceed over its rugged and unpolished pages even after the 
fatigue and lateness of business — from occasionally meeting with a brilliant 
sentiment and diamond thought. The volume is an omnium gatherum of 
astrology, astronomy, cosmogony, mythology, philosophy, sorcery, theolo- 
gy, talmudic traditions, pagan fables, puritanical research and literature. 
And I am further induced to insert (using modern orthography) the ad- 
ditional remarks of the author respecting himself, as they embrace an admi- 
rable moral, and present a pointed and warning rebuke to such whose pro- 
pensity to waste their time and indulge their fancies and mar their useful- 
ness in the absurdities and wonders of supernaturalism bear an inverse ratio 
to their belief in the mysteries and truths and requisitions of the Bible. — G. C. 
11* 



2±2 



COLLECTAXEA. 



dehort other men from entering into the like dangers. For whatso- 
ever by the illusion of the devil, or by the operation of eyil spirits 
shall presume to divine or prophesy by magical vanities, exorcism, in- 
cantations, amatories, enchanted ditches, and other demoniac actions, 
exercising blasphemous charms, spells, witchcrafts, and sorceries, or 
anything belonging to superstition and idolatry : all these are fore- 
doomed to be tormented in eternal fire with Jamnes Mambre and 
Simon Magus r — Heywood. — (1659.) 

IMesslaee ; Traditions relating to the Blessings and Cele- 
bration of Ghrisfs Kingdom. 

The felicities and glories which will usher in the government of 
the Messiah is to be celebrated by a royal festival, to which all Israel- 
ites will be invited, and seated every one beside a golden table. As 
all other kings and princes on the occasion of a public festival are 
accustomed to entertain their guests with spectacles and games : so 
this banquet of the Messiah is to be introduced by a sportive exhi- 
bition. He will amuse the company with a battle between Behe- 
moth and Leviathan, as it is written, " Thus shall the beasts of the 
field play." Job i. 20. The various feats of Behemoth will be 
highly gratifying to,the Messiah. "These also shall please the Lord 
better than an ox or bullock that hath horns and hoofs."' Psal. Ixix : 
31. But Leviathan shall advance to the contest armed with his 
scales, as with a breastplate and coat of mail dreadful to behold. 
The battle will be fierce : but the combatants being equally matched, 
neither will be victorious. They will both fall exhausted with fatigue. 
Then Messiah with a drawn sword shall stab and slay them both. 
"In that day the Lord, with his sore and great and strong sword 
shall punish Leviathan the piercing serpent, even Leviathan that 
crooked serpent." Isaiah xxvii. 1. These huge animals, together 
with Bar Juchine the enormous bird, are then to be spitted and laid 
to the fire, and all requisite preparations to be made for the splendid 
banquet, as it is written : " And on this mountain shall the Lord of 
hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on 
the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wine on the lees well re- 
fined. Isaiah xxv. 6. Having prodded three courses of flesh, fish 
and fowl : the rabbies have supplied this sumptuous feast of the 
Messiah with the customary appendages. The dessert will consist 
of the most delicious fruits, the produce of the garden of Eden, includ- 
ing some of the fruit taken from the tree of life : the choicest and 
most exquisite wines of the vintage of Paradise, prepared immedi- 
ately after the creation, and preserved in Adam's wine-cellar ever 
since, expressly for this glorious occasion. " In that day sing ye 
unto her, a vineyard of red wine. I the Lord do keep it." Isaiah 
xxvii. 2, 3. "In the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine 
is red, it is full of mixture, and he poureth out of the same/' 
Psalms lxxv. 8. " Since the beginning of the world men have not 
heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, 0 God, 
besides thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him." 



COLLECTANEA. 



243 



Isaiah lxiv. 4. At the conclusion of the feast Messiah is repre- 
sented as filling a cup. over which, according to usual custom, a grace 
will be pronounced ; that the company giving glory to God will beseech 
him to undertake the office ; resembling that of the cup-bearer — that 
God will offer it Michael. Michael to Gabriel. Gabriel to Abraham, 
Abraham to Isaac. Isaac to Moses. Moses to Joshua ; that all these de- 
clining the office as being unworthy of such high honor, will at last 
assign it to David : declaring it will be proper for an earthly king to 
perform this service to the King of Heaven. — that David will say, 
"Well! then I will give thanks and this office becomes me as it is 
said." " I will take the cup of salvation and will call upon the name 
of the Lord." Psalms cxvi. 13. And that this cup will contain two 
hundred and fourteen gallons, as it is said. "My cup runneth over." 
Psalms xxiii. 5. The luxuries and provisions remaining on the table 
will be distributed amongst the guests, who will expose them to sale 
at the market-place at Jerusalem: that of the part of the skin of 
Leviathan will be made tabernacles, pavilions or awnings for the 
just ; and that the rest will be spread upon the walls of Jerusalem, 
diffusing a light to the extremities of the world : as it is written, 
"And kings shall come to the brightness of thy rising." Isaiah Ix. 
3. The banquet will be succeeded, and the festival concluded by 
music and dancing : God entertaining the just, with music and 
dancing, and will himself sit in the midst of them, in the garden of 
Eden, and every one will point to him with an outstretched finger. 
"And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God. we have waited 
for him ; we will be glad, and rejoice in his salvation."' Isaiah xxv. 
9.— Allen. 



Resurrection ; Physically Explained and Illustrated y 
and Symbolized by Funereal Trees, Ornamented, Flow- 
ers, and Perennial Sliruos. 

During the life of any animal its particles are in a state of cease- 
less change ; the organism of to-day is not that of yesterday. When 
this removal of particles ceases to take place, according to vital laws 
the organism decays. But who shall say that the power which 
brought them together decays also ? All that we know is, that we 
no longer see the same process conducted : but that does not prove 
annihilation. All action that we are acquainted with produces re- 
action ; and perhaps, if life operates on matter, matter operates on 
life. This action may, for aught we know, be needful for the devel- 
opment of the soul; but the necessity of that precise mode of it 
which takes place in what we call a living organism, is only for a 
time. Death is only one of change, and change has its relation to 
Time : it is a relation, not an absolute existence. The opponents of 
the natural evidence of immortality, appeal to the triumph of death 
in the lower world : but they know not what those triumphs are, nor 
to what extent they go. Nature is the art of God. It seems a con- 
stant plan of nature to build exquisite structures with worthless and 
often loathsome materials. The brilliant plant and the phosphores- 



2U 



COLLECT AXE A. 



cent light spring from putrescence ; and among the decay of expec- 
tations and the mangled relics of happiness, hope blossoms and 
shows at once a flower and a star. That in strewing their tombs the 
Romans affected the rose : the Greeks the araaranthus and myrtles ; 
that the funeral pyre consisted of sweet fuel, cypress, fir. larix. yew, 
and trees perpetually verdant, lay silent expressions of their survi- 
ving hopes : wherein Christians which deck their coffins with bays, 
have found a more elegant emblem ; for that tree seeming dead will 
restore from the root, and its exsuccous leaves assume their verdure 
again. Whether the planting of the yew in church yards hold not 
its original from ancient funeral rites, or as an emblem of the Resur- 
rection, from its perpetual verdure, may also admit conjecture. If 
in the decretory term of the world, we shall not all die, but be 
changed according to received translation ; the last day will make 
but few graves : at least quick resurrection will anticipate lasting 
sepulchres; some graves will be opened before they be quite closed, 
and Lazarus be no wonder. When many that feared to die shall 
groan that they can die but once ; the dismal state is the second and 
living death, when life puts despair on the damned ; when men shall 
wish the covering of mountains, not of monuments, and annihilation 
shall be courted. — Sir Thomas Browne. 

Death is as necessary to the constitution as sleep. We shall rise 
refreshed in the morning — Dr. Franklin. 



Saint Paul's traditional descent into Hell. 

Adam de Ross thus sings of St. Paul's descent into hell. The 
Archangel Michael performs the office of guide to the apostle. "My 
good son,"' says he to him, ' ; follow me without fear and without sus- 
picion." God commands me to show to thee the gnashing of teeth, 
the pangs and the anguish which sinners undergo. Michael goes 
first ; Paul follows, repeating psalms. At the gate of hell grows a 
tree of fire ; from its branches hang the souls of misers and scandal- 
mongers. The air is full of flying imps, who drag the wicked to the 
furnace. The two travellers pursue their way through the desolate 
regions. The archangel explains to the apostle the torments inflicted 
for different crimes : from the bosom of an immense forge a vast 
wave, in which burning furnaces roar and sparkle, issue rivers of 
molten metals, in which demons are disporting. The further the 
envoys of heaven penetrate into the bowels of the earth the more 
terrible become the torments, and St. Paul is filled with pity. They 
arrive at the mouth of a pit, sealed with the seven seals. The arch- 
angel removes the seals, and pushes back the apostle, till the pesti- 
lential vapor exhaled from the pit has passed off. From the bottom 
of this pit ascend the moan of the greatest sinners. St. Paul inquires 
how long their punishment shall last. " One hundred and forty thou- 
sand years," replies St. Michael, " though I am not quite sure of it." 
The apostle begs the archangel to implore the Almighty to mitigate 
the punishment of these reprobate spirits. Their prayers, j.oined by 
those of other compassionate angels, are granted. God ordains that 



COLLECTANEA. 



245 



in future the tortures shall be suspended from Saturday till Monday 
morning. St. Brandan, in his vo}-age to the terrestrial paradise, had 
obtained the same favor for Judas. — Chateaubriand. 



Satax; Ms subtlety, temptations and delusions. 

The devil would persuade me that the brazen serpent was no mi- 
racle, but merely operated by S}'mpathy : and to the misapplication 
of our studies would resolve all phenomena into natural causes. 
Thus the devil played at chess with me, and yielding a pawn thought 
to gain a queen from me, taking advantage of my honest endeavors ; 
and whilst I labored to raise the structure of my reason, he strived 
to undermine the edifice of faith. — Sir Thomas Browne. 

The time when the fall of Satan and his angels took place is ge- 
nerally imagined to have preceded the creation of the world ; and 
some have accounted for it by the supposition that the arch-fiend and 
his angels, being informed of God's purpose to create man after his 
own image, and to dignify his nature by Christ's assuming it, and 
thinking their glory to be thus eclipsed, coveted the happiness of 
man, and so revolted ; and with this opinion that of the -Mahometans 
has some affinity, who are taught that the devil, who was once, of 
those angels who are nearest God's presence, and named Azazel, for- 
feited Paradise for refusing to worship or pay homage to Adam at 
the command of God. But whatever was the occasion or mode by 
which it was manifested, pride seems to have been the leading 
sin, and it ultimately terminated in rebellion and apostacy. 

Sextiaiexts on a variety of subjects, speculative and 
curious. 

Rest not in high strained paradoxes of old philosophy, supported 
by naked reason and the reward of mortal felicity ; but labor in the 
ethics of faith, built upon heavenly assistance and the happiness of 
both beings. Understand the rules, but swear not unto the doctrines 
of Zeno or Epicurus. Let not the twelve but the two tables be thy law. 
Let Pythagoras be thy remembrancer, not thy textuary and final in- 
structor : and learn the vanity of the world rather from Solomon 
than Phocylydes. Keep not in the dogmas of the Peripatetics, Aca- 
demy, or Porticus. Be a moralist of the mount, an Epictetus in 
the faith, and Christianize thy notions. 

Be not a Hercules Furens abroad, and a poltroon within thyself. 
To chase our enemies out of the field, and be led captives by our 
vices : to beat down our foes, and fall down to our concupiscences ; 
are solecisms in moral schools, and no laurels attend them. To ma- 
nage well our affections, and the wild horses of Plato, are the highest 
circenses, and the nobles digladiation, is in the theatre of ourselves ; 
for therein our inward antagonists, not like common gladiators, with 
ordinary weapons and downright blows make at us. but also like re- 
tiary and laqueary combatants with nets, frauds, and entanglements, 
fall upon us. Weapons for such combatants are not to be forged at 



COLLECT AXE A. 



Lipara. Vulcan's art doth nothing in this internal militia: wherein 
not the armor of Achilles, but the armature of St. Paul, gives the 
glorious day, and triumphs, not leading up to the capitol, but into the 
highest heavens. 

Let not fortune, which hath no name in Scripture, have any in thy 
divinity. Let Providence, not chance, have the honor of thy 
acknowledgment, and be thy Edipus in contingencies. Mark well the 
paths and windings thereof ; but be not too wise in the construction 
or sudden in application. The hand of Providence often in abbre- 
viatures, hieroglyphics, and short characters which, like the Laconi- 
cism on the wall, are not to be made out but by hint or key from 
that spirit which indited them. 

We fall not from virtue, like Vulcan, in a day. We are not left 
without parentheses of consideration, thoughtful rebukes, and mer- 
ciful interventions to recall us unto ourselves. 

It is the heaviest stone that melancholy can throw at a man, to tell 
him he is at the end of his nature : and there is no future state to 
come: unto which this seems progressional, and otherwise made in 
vain. But man is a noble animal, — splendid in ashes, pompous in the 
grave, solemnizing nativities and deaths with equal' lustre, not omit- 
ting ceremonies of bravery in the infanc}^ of his nature. 

Enjoy the whole world in the hermitage of thyself. Thus the 
old ascetic Christians formed a paradise in a desert, and with little 
converse on earth, held a conversation in heaven: thus they astrono- 
mized in caves, and though they beheld not the stars, had the glory 
of heaven before them. 

Opinion rides upon the neck of reason : and men are happy, wise 
or learned, according as that empress sets them down in the register 
of reputation. 

Some negroes who believe in the resurrection think that they shall 
rise white. Even in this life regeneration may imitate resurrection ; 
our black and various tinctures may wear off, and goodness clothe us 
with candor. Good admonitions knock not always in vain. There 
will be signal examples of God's mercy, and the angels must not 
want their charitable rejoicings for the conversion of lost sinners. 
The universe is one grand miracle. 

Guide not the hand of God, nor order the finger of the Almighty 
nnto thy will and pleasure ; but sit quiet in the soft showers of Prov- 
idence. — Sir Thomas Browxe. — Christian Morals. 

The great advantage of this mean life is thereby to stand in a ca- 
pacity of a better : for the colonies of heaven must be drawn from 
earth, and the sons of the first Adam are only heirs unto the second. 

1 cannot contemn a man for ignorance, but behold him with as 
much pity as 1 do Lazarus. It is no greater charity to clothe his 
body, than a,pparel the nakedness of his soul. — Sir Thos. Browxe. 

The poets considered wisdom and virtue the two wings by which 
we aspire and attain unto the knowledge of God. 

A dialogue between two infants in the womb concerning the state 
of this world, might handsomely illustrate our ignorance of the next ; 
whereof methinks, we yet discourse in Plato's den, and are but em- 
bryo philosophers. 



COLLECTANEA. 



547 



As the Son is begotten of the Father, and the Holy Ghost proceed- 
eth both from one and the other : in like manner is the will engen- 
dered of the understanding and memory. And as the three persons 
of theTrinity are but one God. so these three powers, understanding, 
will, and memory, and faculties of the mind, make but one soul. 

Heywood. 

The eye of the soul is the mind : it is a substance created invisible, 
incorporeal, immortal, like unto God, and being the image, omnia 
anima et Okristi spousa aut Diaboli adultera. Every soul is either 
the spouse of Christ or the strumpet of the Devil. — Heywood. 

Age is the sauce of a wise man, and a wise man is the meat of 
age, for not by age, but by travel and industry, wisdom is obtained. 

It seems as though in mortal life we behold only images and re- 
flections. It remains for immortality to exhibit realities as they are. 

The serpent that tempted Eve had the face of a woman, quod simd- 
lia similibus applaudant. That like might be pleasing to like. 

Heywood. 

The worlds of matter and of spirit are full of analogies. Indeed 
matter is only Divine thoughts visible and tangible to human sense. 

SLACK. 

Pyramids, arches, obelisks, were but the irregularities of vainglo- 
ry and the wild enormities of ancient magnanimity. But the most 
magnanimous resolutions rest in the Christian religion, which trainp- 
leth upon pride, and sits upon the neck of ambition : humbly pursu- 
ing that infallible perpetuity into which all others must diminish 
their diameters and be poorly seen in the angles of contingency. 

Even us, an elegiac poet of Pharos, was the first it is said, that 
enunciated the proverb that "Habit was second nature." 

It were better to have no opinion of God at all. than such an opin- 
ion as is unworthy of Him, — for the one is unbelief, the other "con- 
tumely. — Lord Bacox. 



Selexce ; Figuratively Recommended. 

Nature has afforded us double eyes and ears to behold all objects 
and listen to all voices and sounds : but to warn us that we should 
be sparing in our speech, she hath afforded man but one tongue, and 
that portalled with lips, and portcullis^ed with teeth, near to which 
are placed the five senses, to signify to us that we ought to speak 
nothing rashly, without their counsel and advice, with the help of 
the faculties of the soul, which are reason and understanding, which 
have their residence in the brain. 

Silence is a gift without price, and a treasure without enemies. 



Similitudes; Moral, Devotional, and Allegorical. 

What the pilot is in the ship ; what the charioteer is in the chariot ; 
what the leader of the song is in the chorus or anthem : what the 
law is in the city : the same is God in the world. God, if thou re- 
specteth his force ! is the most able; if his features ! He is the most 



21S 



COLLECTANEA. 



beautiful : if His life ! immortal : if his virtue ! He is the most ex- 
cellent . HE Y WOOD' S HlER ARCHIE . 

We have for the sea, the world : for the ship, the church ; for our 
mast, the cross : for the sails, repentance : for our pilot, Christ : for 
the wind, the Holy Ghost. — St. Chrysostom. 

Where nature fills the sails the vessel goes smoothly on : and 
when judgment is the pilot, the insurance need not be high. When 
industry builds upon nature, we may expect pyramids. 

But as eagles when they rest, and the lions when they walk : the 
one plucks in his talons, the other his claws to keep them sharp, as 
loath to dull them till they meet their prey : so it is not fit we should 
trouble our heads, or exercise our wits upon things impertinent, but 
rather reserve them for things only behoofull and necessary. 

Avarice, the offspring of usury and extortion, makes the nobleman 
mortgage his estates, the lawyer pawn his Lyttleton. the physician sell 
his Galen, the soldier his sword, the merchant his ship, and the 
world its peace and happiness. She is drawn in a chariot with four 
wheels, which are called pusillanimity, inhumanity, contempt of God, 
and forgetfulness of death. The beasts harnessed to it are tenacity 
and rapacity, which are guided and governed by the cruel charioteer 
named a greed y-desire-of -having. 

Men's miseries, calamities, and ruins are the devil's banqueting 
dishes. 

That in the spiritual building, the foundation below is placed in 
humility, the breadth thereof is disposed in charity, the height 
thereof is erected in good works, and is tiled and covered by Divine 
protection, and perfected in the length of patience. — Heywood. 

Nearly every part of the world has its representative in the human 
frame : for the head is heaven, of which the eyes are the stars ; we 
consist of four elements: in the womb we are curled up into a ball: 
and when we stretch out our arms, a line drawn around us would be 
a circle. 



Soul : Jewish Traditions respecting it, together with a 
variety of Curious and. Mythological particulars, and 
Classical Allusions ; — its JYature, Transmigrations, 
Modifications and Destiny. 

All the souls of the Israelites, it is said, were contained in the soul of 
the first man. and were made ready on the entrance of every Israelite 
into this world. The number of souls of the Israelites are calculated to 
amount to six hundred thousand, and therefore the soul of the first 
man consisted of that number twisted together like so many threads. 
Of these six hundred thousand souls that there is never one man 
wanting, which shows them to be a model of the upper chariot, in 
which are to be found six hundred thousand sciences. Another rab- 
binical work gives the following luminous statement. " The number 
of souls is six hundred thousand : and the law is the root of the souls 
of the Israelites, and every verse in the law was six thousand expla- 
nations, and every soul is formed particularly out of one explanation. 



COLLECTANEA. 



219 



It is also necessary to be known, according to the doctrine of the 
Cabalist, says Menasseh, that at the beginning of the world souls 
were created by God in pairs, consisting each of a male and female ; 
and therefore they affirm that marriage is either a reward or punish- 
ment, according to the works which a man has done. For if a man 
is deserving, and accounted worthy, he obtains his original consort ; 
the person with whom he was created is bestowed upon him as a re- 
ward. But if otherwise, he is punished by being united to a person 
of uncongenial disposition and manners : with whom he is doomed to 
live in almost continual strifes, contentions and other similar mise- 
ries. As there is one mansion for the residence of those souls who 
never yet descended into the world, there is said to be another, for 
the reception of those who have departed out of this life, and on the 
decease of the body have returned to their source and origin." 
The following passage professes to describe the manner in which a 
soul is received on its arrival in the latter of these places. When a 
soul first enters Paradise, particularly if beloved or related to any 
that are there, it is immediately welcomed by them with pleasant 
countenances ; and as the people of this world delighting to hear 
news from distant parts, put many questions to strangers concerning 
them : so do the righteous, who are already in Paradise, welcome the 
arrival of their friends and kindred, and ask them concerning the 
affairs of this world. 

The doctrine of the metempsychosis, or that one soul animates 
several 'bodies in succession, has been generally adopted by the Jews 
for many ages, and is professed by them to the present day. The 
revolution of souls from one body to another, says Menasseh, is a 
matter of justifiable faith throughout our whole community. Nor 
are there more than one or two rabbies who deny or reject it. But 
there is another very great party of the Sages of Israel who believe 
it ; and they maintain it to be a fundamental or principle of the 
law, and as we are bound to hearken to the words of these teachers, 
so we are to embrace their faith, without doubt or hesitation. The 
rabbies seem not to be very eminent for their gallantry or courtesy to 
the ladies. "The soul of a woman goes into a man for reward," 
says Menasseh, ; ' but the soul of a man passes into a woman for pun- 
ishment — such a punishment comes to pass on account of some heavy 
sin. The Cabbalists, also, believe that souls are removed out of 
bodies of one kind into bodies of another kind. The soul of a man 
passes into a beast if he has committed one more sin than he has 
performed good works. Some of the builders of Babel are declared 
to have entered cats and monkeys : and some are said to migrate into 
noxious reptiles and insects. The soul of a governor who proudly 
exalts himself above his people, into a bee. The soul of a cruel and 
wicked tax-gatherer, for his cruelty to the poor, into a raven in 
which he was recognized by a sagacious rabbi. 

The souls of the righteous, whose conversation is with the law, 
into a fish. Other souls migrate into vegetables. For certain crimes 
a soul migrates into the leaf of a tree, sometimes passing from leaf to 
leaf, through several leaves. The soul of him who utters slanders 



250 



COLLECT AN EA. 



passes into a stone. Rabbi Isaac Luria went on a time into the city 
of Tiberias ; and passing by the great school of Rabbi Jochanan, who 
was then living, he showed his disciples a stone in the wall and said 
to them, " into that stone has entered a soul that cries to me to pray 
for her ; and this is the mystery of the words, ' For the stone shall 
cry out of the wall.' " — Hab. ii. 11. The soul of him that sheds blood 
goes into the water ; the height of the punishment being in cataracts. 
Some souls are said to transmigrate into water-mills. The Jews, 
doubtless, borrowed the tenet from the Gentiles. It is known to have 
been widely diffused in the heathen world, from the Druids of Gaul 
and Britain, to the Brahmins of India. The Egyptians, according to 
Herodotus, are the first who asserted the doctrine that the soul of 
man is immortal, but that when the body decays it enters into some 
other animal which is then born : and that after having passed 
through all the different species of beasts, fishes, and birds, it again 
enters into a new born human body, and that the revolution is accom- 
plished in three thousand years. 

Know, curious reader, says Menasseh, that there are souls 
that migrate after a different manner, which among the Cab- 
balists is called Ibbur, or impregnation. The souls of the right- 
eous, without any impairment of themselves, impregnated other 
souls ; darting out sparks for the aid of the generality, or any par- 
ticulaf^person, of their times, and in this respect resemble candles, 
suffering no diminution from others being lighted by them. Some 
have said that the soul of Seth was pure and unspotted, and was, on 
account of Israel, conveyed to Moses, to qualify him for the delivery 
of the law. The souls which pass through the mystery of Ibbur, 
may return or depart at any time. The souls of Moses and Aaron 
came through the Ibbur to the soul of Samuel, and through Jbbur 
another spirit entered into Caleb, which strengthened and guided 
him in the right way, that he might not join the report of the spies. 

Pythagoras asseverated to his disciples, that as a peculiar privilege, 
vouchsafed to him by Mercury, he had been first iEthalides, the 
reputed son of Mercury ; then Euphorbus, who was slain by Men- 
elaus at the siege of Troy, next Hermotinius. 

" Even I, who these mysterious truths declare. 
Was once Euphorbus in the Trojan war."' 

The soul of this philosopher is also represented as having been 
once embodied in a female named Alee, possessing surprising beauty, 
but divested of all chastity. Empedocles, an advocate of this Pytha- 
gorean dogma, started the notion of transmigration into vegetables, 
pointing out the degrees of preference clue to different migrations, 
having declared that he had previously existed in human bodies, male 
and female, and also, to have been a bird, a fish, and a shrub. 
Among vegetables his predilection was for the laurel : among animals, 
for the lion : but honored mankind by saying that migration into a 
human body was most desirable of all. 

Plato supposed the human soul to be an emanation from the di- 



COLLECT AJSTEA. 



251 



vinity, Divina particulum aurcc, and that after the purification of 
various transmigrations it was again re-absorbed into the divine 
essence. The souls of those that have made their belly their god, 
and loved nothing but indolence and impurity, into the bodies of 
asses. Those who loved only injustice, rapine and tyranny, animated 
wolves, hawks and falcons. Those remarkable for popular and civil 
virtues, migrate into bees and ants, and again return into human 
bodies. — Various Authors . 

The Druids believed in the immortality of the souL and its trans- 
migration into different objects ; and the clouds as palaces for its re- 
ception when it departed from the bodies of their warriors and great 
men. 

The Mexican or American Indians indulged in similar fancies 
respecting the immortality and metamorphosis of the soul. Their 
chiefs wl^o died in battle, and their wives who expired in childbirth, 
ascended up to the house of the sun, as the Lord of Glory : every day 
hailing his beam with demonstrations of joy, and the animation of 
vocal and instrumental music. After four years, these souls ani- 
mated clouds, birds, or descended to the earth again. Those who 
were struck with lightning or died of diseases, and children sacrificed 
to Thalve, went to a place called Talocan, the paradise of that God. 
Those guilty of heinous crimes went to Mitchau or hell. — Chester. 

Some of the ancient philosophers affirmed that spirits were of 
divers qualities, and operated upon men according to their different 
dispositions. Those of an ethereal or fiery temperament stirred up to 
contemplation. Those that were aerial to the business and common 
affairs of life. 

The watery to pleasures ; the earthy to base and grovelling avarice ; 
the martial to fortitude : the jovial to prudence ; the binary to fer- 
tility of offspring : the voluptuous to licentiousness : the mercurial 
to policy and wisdom ; the saturnine from all things that be evil. 
Such was the Socraticum Cemonium, or genius of Socrates. — 
Hevwood. 

They also indulge the conceit that the soul, together with the body, 
is derived from some seminal principles : others, that God created and 
infused souls into bodies when they are formed in the womb ; 
others, that God framed them, first, when He created all things, and 
now assigns them to us, according to his pleasure. 

The ancients used music at their funerals, to excite or quiet the 
affections of their friends, according to different harmonies. But the 
sweet and symbolical hint was the harmonical nature of the soul, 
which, delivered from the body, went again to enjoy the primitive 
harmony of heaven, from whence it first descended, which, according 
to the progress traced by antiquity, came down by Cancer and as- 
cended by Capricornus. That they sucked in the last breath of their 
expiring friends, was surely a practice of no medical institution, but 
a loose opinion that the soul passed that way, and a fondness of 
affection, from some Pythagorical foundation, that the spirit of one 
body passed into another, which they wished might be their own. 

As the doctrine of the certain existence of another world is one of 



252 



COLLECTAXEA. 



the chief truths to be enforced upon man. a visible ascension into 
heaven has taken place in the three stages of development of the 
great scheme of Redemption. Enoch, Elijah, and Christ, proved to. 
the world, by their ascension to heaven, the truth of the immortality 
of the soul, and that its future happiness is the object which God has 
constantly in view under every mode of appealing to his creatures. 

I believe that the whole frame of a beast doth perish, and is left in 
the same state after death as before it was materialed into life : that 
the souls of men know neither contrary or corruption ; that they sub- 
sist beyond the body and out-live death by the privilege of their 
proper natures, and without a miracle ; that the souls of the faithful 
as they leave will take possession of heaven : that those apparitions 
and ghosts of departed persons are not the wandering souls of men. but 
the unquiet walks of devils, prompting and suggesting unto us mis- 
chief, blood, and villainy, instilling and stealing into our hearts ; that 
the blessed spirits are not all at rest in their ground, but wander 
solicitous of the affairs of the world, but that those phantasms appear 
often, and do frequent cemeteries, charnel-houses, and churches, it is 
because those are dormitories of the dead, where the devil, like an 
insolent champion, beholds with pride, the spoils and trophies of his 
victory over Adam. 

This is that dismal conquest we all deplore, that makes us so often 
cry, 0! Adam, quid feast i ! I thank God I have not those strait 
ligaments or narrow obligations to the world as to dote on life, or be 
convulsed and tremble at the name of death. — Sir Thos. Browne. 

The soul is an inseparable portion of the great universal mind : in 
other words of Brahma, — like the being from whom it emanates, 
it is therefore indestructible. It knows no distinction of time, it is 
free, immutable and eternal. The mind cannot pierce it : water can- 
not drown it. The earth cannot absorb it. 

It is beyond the reach of the elements, invulnerable, invisible, uni- 
versal, subsisting in all places and at all times, and victorious over 
death. — Sacred Boohs of the Brahmins. 

Our inquiries respecting the nature of the soul must be bound over 
to religion, for otherwise they will be open to many errors. For 
since the substance of the soul was not deduced from the mass of 
heaven and earth, but immediately from God, how can the knowledge 
of the reasonable soul be derived from philosophy \ It must be 
drawn from the same inspiration from whence its substance first 
flowed. — Lord Bacon. 



"Women ; prototypes of the absurd and unsexing order of 
modern Socialism. 

Lasthenise. of Mautinea, and Axiotheo, of Phylsia, were two/emale 
disciples of Plato, who habited themselves like men, because they 
ridiculously conceived that that unnatural manner of dress best 
suited the dignit}- of pagan philosophy. 



LEFe '10 




cr 



A N GELOLOGY. 



KtllltS A\D REFLECTION'S 



TOl'CUIKG THQ 



A < > E N C Y A N D M IN I S T B A T 1 0 N 



HOLY ANGELS; 



-a utr 



with : 

History, Rank, Titles, 1 



TO THEIR 

Characteristics, R esidei 
§ and Pursuits ; 



THADITIONAL PARTICULARS RESPECTING THEM. 

BY GEORGE CLAYTON, Jr. 




,l Are they hot all miaistering-spirits."- -Si. Paul. 

"To thce^ail angels cry r\loud— Cherubim and Seraphim.* 2 ^- Com. Prayer 
''Magna opera Domin!, exquisita in onm es vo hint ales ejtts, ,, -^$PS$ Vulgate. 

Embellished with original Illustrations. 



nj 



f LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.? 

^ [SMITHSONIAN DEPOSIT.] ^ 

1-7 42. 



| UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. | 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: August 2005 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township. PA 1 6066 
(724) 779-2111 



